Fly Away Home
by QuixoticQuest
Summary: Hiccup and Toothless are about to embark on a journey to find the dragon's lost family. But they may find more than that in the process. Meanwhile, Hiccup has some feelings of his own to sort out... namely for a particular Viking girl. Hiccup/Astrid.
1. The Land Just Beyond the Mist

**Chapter 1**

_**The Land Just Beyond the Mist**_

_A/N- Heya! I guess this means I've branched again in term of the types of fan fiction I usually write (I've written some YW, SW and now HTTYD starting with this fic). For those of you who haven't ever read my work or visited my profile I'll give a brief introduction. _

_My name is Don "QuixoticQuest" (no, Don isn't my real name but it's my FFN nickname) and I'm primarily a SW writer and I've written some YW fics on the side as well. I am a college student and I'm a huge sci-fi and fantasy nerd. I am also not ashamed of my nerdiness so feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk about nerdy things. =) _

_I can't say how good or bad this fic will be, but I will say that I am going to try to keep the characters as canon as possible and that I will be receptive to critique as long as it's constructive._

_Cool? =) _

_Alrighty then! Just some quick notes that I think are important to know before I start the first chappie:_

_1. This story takes place about a year after the movie ends. _

_2. There will be some OCs in this story and I might do some tweaking here and there with the storyline (if there are any gaps the film didn't fill in)._

_3. I do not write slash fiction. My stories (although they are typically AU) will always contain canon pairings and if I do use non-canon pairings, will not be slash. I have nothing against slash, I am just not a slash writer. _

_4. All of my stories are rated one rating up from what they should be for safety. My stories have warnings for when there is a fair amount of violence or language content-so please read the A/Ns beforehand so you don't read anything that you might find objectionable. _

_5. This story is going to contain many chapters so keep that in mind for the pacing (I have other fics as well as college work to keep up with so I'll update when I can). _

_6. I will usually give advance warning if I think there will be a large gap between updates, but I don't make any guarantees- because as the saying goes "s*** happens."_

_ fic is officially rated M but that might change if I decide that the content doesn't warrant such a high rating. Though I do tend to lean on the more mature end of the spectrum so I'm playing it safe here. _

_Okay! So that about covers all the notes for the first chapter. I'll fill in the gaps about the story's details as the series continues. _

_Enjoy! _

_Best,_

_Don ^_^_

_Note: This chapter has been revised as of 5/3/10. A special thanks to GeffyB for the idea about the dream. _

_

* * *

_

Hiccup sat up with a groan, it had been another restless night.

Hiccup had been having the same dream every other day for the past few weeks.

He had dreams of images that he couldn't directly understand. The first was of a large island hidden in the mist and images of black dragons flying around in circles in perfect alignment across their island home and then images of a ship hovering in the distance and flames as the dragons fought unseen figures marched through the mist and then a jet of bluish purple fire usually broke the dream to wake Hiccup up.

Hiccup had only now realized he had just seen something personal from Toothless' past. How he had dreamed about it, Hiccup wasn't entirely sure. All he knew was that the dream was more or less a sign of something Hiccup should have known was on his best friend's mind.

Even if Toothless was a dragon, he wasn't by any means emotionless. Hiccup looked around his bedroom. It was the early morning and Hiccup noticed that his scaly friend was absent from the room. Hiccup sighed as he got up. He needed to talk to Toothless.

* * *

The early morning sun warmed the grass laden hills as the rays struck the trees, creating shadows on the grass that vaguely resembled monsters of some sort. Though these barely had any resemblance to the dragon that was sitting on the hill nearby, his slanted yellow eyes staring out at the water below the cliff he perched on.

The wind rippled through the trees and the black dragon let out a low moan that cast a sorrowful pitch onto the wind. He flicked his tail to the side before his longing eyes tore from their gaze on the land that was beyond the horizon line of the water, hidden by the mist that lingered above it.

"Toothless?"

The dragon turned and let out a playful growl before tackling the approaching gangly form of his rider and friend. "What are you doing way out here, Bud?" The boy asked, rubbing his hand under the dragon's head. The dragon let out a satisfied purr before giving a growl for a response.

Though Hiccup couldn't directly understand what Toothless was saying, he knew a lame answer when he heard one. "Come on, Toothless." Hiccup said in a dubious tone. The dragon let out a grunt and rolled over to indicate that he was done talking and wanted a belly rub.

"Toothless," Hiccup said in a low voice, "I'm not rubbing your belly until you give me a good answer."

Toothless let out an indignant growl. "Nope." Hiccup replied. "I'm not changing my mind."

Finally Toothless let out a soft moan before coming over to his rider's side and placed his head under Hiccup's hand. For a second Hiccup though about moving his hand but then noticed that something was different about the way Toothless was standing and Hiccup remained still.

"Your family's out there, huh?" Hiccup said and Toothless purred an affirmative. After a few minutes of silence Hiccup sighed. He had thought many times about whether or not Toothless still had a family of dragons out there someplace and if they still lived, would they come looking for Toothless? Hiccup feared the day when his best friend would be taken away for reasons Hiccup couldn't and because of his heart, wouldn't, stop. Hiccup already knew what it was like to lose part of his family and he wouldn't let the same thing happen to Toothless. He turned as Toothless prodded Hiccup in the side with his snout.

"Alright, let's go," Hiccup agreed and soon the two were cruising through the clouds, the air and water soaking through Hiccup's rich brown hair and into his tunic.

Hiccup had to make a choice and it wouldn't be long before he had to make it.

* * *

Hiccup continued his long internal debate long into the night, avoiding contact with everyone and managing, despite the pain that kept shooting through his leg, to escape out of sight at every chance he got.

With night falling, Hiccup made his way to the small area where he he'd first met Toothless and sat down on his favorite rock, pulling his knees up to his chest as he thought over his options.

He was sure that Astrid was suspicious since he'd made an effort not to look her in the eye all day long and he knew it was only a matter of time before she brought down the entire forest to find out where he was. Hiccup smiled at the thought, as painfully destructive as it sounded.

After Hiccup had returned from his battle against the Green Death, Astrid had constantly kept an eye on Hiccup, despite his protests that he was fine. She was always there to make sure he didn't do anything too reckless, though in the past year she'd lightened up more since Hiccup had begun to get used to using his metal limb with ease. It still burned on occasion when he walked around too much, but it was much better than the first month after he woke up to find he only had one leg left.

Then there was the other part of Astrid that Hiccup didn't quite understand: her on and off anger and affection drove Hiccup crazy to no end and he wondered what her real feelings were sometimes. She could be yelling at Hiccup and beating the pulp out of him one second and the next second she was patching him up and telling him not to get into trouble again. Hiccup's mouth twitched into a smile. She certainly did know how to make it up to him though. Hiccup never complained when Astrid kissed him. After all, she was good at it.

"And just what are you smiling about?"

Hiccup fell off the rock and landed unceremoniously on his back, his legs flopped over his head. He sat up, rubbing his head, "What was that for?"

Astrid's golden haired head appeared out of the darkness, "That," She said in her usual stern tone, "Was for ignoring me all day," She crossed over to where Hiccup was and kissed him. "That was for your cute smile."

"My what?" Hiccup questioned. Astrid waved her hand, indicating that he wouldn't understand. She then sat down next to Hiccup, leaning back with her hands on the ground beside her legs.

"So what's going on? You've been acting strangely all day," Astrid pointed out and Hiccup averted his green eyes for a second before looking out at the lake in front of them.

"It's Toothless," Hiccup said finally. Astrid looked at Hiccup with concern in her eyes, but waited for him to elaborate before she responded. "I think he wants to go home."

"But, Hiccup, we don't even know where Toothless is from," Astrid said and then stopped when she noticed the look in Hiccup's eyes.

"We don't, but Toothless does," Hiccup said in his serious tone. It was the same one that he had used when he had told Astrid he wasn't going to let the other Vikings kill Toothless no matter what it cost Hiccup.

"So what do you plan to do?" Astrid asked. Hiccup shrugged.

"As of right now?" He paused before shaking his head, "I don't know," He said and then looked up at the starry sky. The small dots formed constellations and after digging around Hiccup had found out that one of them was an old formation of a dragon. It certainly didn't look like any of the dragons that Hiccup knew, but then again he didn't know every type of dragon.

"Hiccup," Astrid said slowly, "If you do go to find Toothless' family, you might come back," She looked at him as his own green eyes almost shut out of the pain he felt at the thought he knew they shared, "Alone."

Hiccup abruptly stood up and started away, though not quickly because of his leg, "I've got to go." He said and limped away. Out of respectful for his thoughts and feelings on the subject, Astrid left the small lake area.

Hiccup stood still, staring down at the ground, his eyes scrunched up as he tried to stop the inevitable pain that came as he made his decision. He squared his shoulders after a second and then turned his head to face the small dragon that he had already heard approaching.

"Hey, Bud," Hiccup said, "Ready to go home?" The dragon let out a low purr of affirmation before Hiccup returned his gaze to the dragon installation in the sky.

**A/N- Thanks for reading. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. =) No guarantees about timing since I think this week will be a busy one. **


	2. Questions and Departures

**Chapter 2**

**Questions and Departures **

_A/N- Hey All! I'm back faster than I thought I'd be (which doesn't happen too often- but I got some of my creative juices running so here I am!). _

_Chapter 1 has been revised and reposted if anyone wants to look at the changes. _

_Okay, so I'm probably not going to be able to update again this week (maybe this weekend, but again I won't make any guarantees). _

_Until then enjoy this update. I tried to make it longer than the last one so I could move the story along. _

_Oh! I just saw HTTYD for the second time in theaters yesterday. It's amazing, My Friends. No matter how many times I see it, I doubt it'll stop blowing my mind. (For better or for worse). _ But mostly for better. =) _

_Thanks for reading,_

_-Don ^_^_

_

* * *

_

Astrid stood with her arms folded across her chest. Even though stubbornness was a common attribute among Vikings, compared to most Vikings, Astrid's level of stubbornness took the cake.

Hiccup knew he was going to have some problems with convincing her that going on a trip to a place Hiccup literally knew nothing about aside from the fact that it existed, that the place was probably inhabited by dragons that probably weren't friendly, he knew that he "probably" wasn't going to get a very positive response. After all, this was Astrid: the most adamantly stubborn person that Hiccup knew besides his father, and Toothless didn't count because in this case Hiccup wasn't counting dragons.

"I take it saying 'please' wouldn't help?" Hiccup said, trying a wry smile. Astrid remained completely not-amused. Though she raised an eyebrow at Hiccup's attempt at humor, _that had to count for something_, Hiccup thought.

Astrid remained stonily impassive throughout Hiccup's entire "crazy idea pitch." She had gone along with many of Hiccup's somewhat insane plans since he had come back from fighting the Green Death a little over a year ago. Some of them included Hiccup dangling upside down from Toothless' leg to drop a bouquet of flowers into Astrid's window one morning. She had woken up to the thumping noise that Toothless had made when he had landed on her roof and then looked over to see Hiccup dangling upside down outside her window. She had nearly had a heart attack, worried that any second Hiccup was going to do a head plant into the ground below. She promptly leapt from her bed and almost scared Hiccup (who had not been expecting her to notice his antics) into jumping from Toothless grips. Hiccup almost would have done a head plant had it not been for Toothless' death grip on Hiccup's torso.

She regard Hiccup now with a sense of foreboding. He had done many questionable things. Even the incident with the flowers had been much more reasonable, albeit not exactly logical, but more reasonable than going on a mission with no direction except to find Toothless' lost family.

"I told you that you weren't going to like this," Hiccup said with a full body shrug.

"That doesn't mean I have to agree with it," Astrid pointed out. Toothless looked over at Hiccup as if to ask if he was going to respond to her argument.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking, don't get your wings in a knot," He muttered to the dragon, who huffed, puffing smoke into Hiccup's face. "Yeah, well, at least you're not the one arguing with the wall over there."

Astrid's brow went up at that, "Who's a wall?" She did not look in any way amused. Hiccup's throat did a nose dive into his stomach.

"Da-da-da, we're dead," Hiccup said, looking hopelessly at Toothless, who let out a snort. "What do you mean _you're not a part of this_? You're as much a part of this as I am." The dragon clearly didn't agree because he lumbered away from Astrid, who, if she had been a dragon, would have steaming nostrils.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock," Hiccup swallowed and decided to spare himself the pain of watching his own life end before his eyes. He'd just blown his only chance of convincing Astrid to let him go on the trip without a fight. Now he was going to get one whether he liked it or not. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

Hiccup didn't open his eyes, "Um, you look really tough today?"

"Wrong answer," Astrid said flatly and then socked Hiccup hard in the arm. He went down faster than one could say "Toothless." Behind him, Hiccup could hear Toothless growling.

"It's for his own good, Toothless," Astrid said, but the Night Fury obviously didn't agree because he promptly placed himself between the angry Viking girl and now downed Viking boy.

"Bud, she's right," Hiccup said in a placating voice. Astrid blinked in surprise.

"I am?"

Toothless made a curious growl as if to reiterate her question. Hiccup pushed himself to his feet, staggering a little before Toothless stepped forward to support his rider.

"I'm not exactly sure about this whole plan myself," Hiccup said, looking straight at Astrid.

She gave him a curious look. For the first time since they had begun to grow closer as friends, Astrid couldn't read Hiccup, at all. He could be somewhat mysterious at points, but that was usually on purpose. Now she couldn't read him period.

"Okay, Hiccup, what are you up to this time," Astrid said with a frown and folded her arms across her chest again. It wasn't a question, but the curiosity in her eyes made Hiccup answer her statement like it was.

"Nothing," He said with another shrug of innocence. Astrid narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized him. He didn't seem to be lying and she already knew all of Hiccup's habits that he'd show when he lied: one of them being his constant tangent of nonsensical compliments and the other his need to itch his foot.

"Hiccup," Astrid said in a dangerously skeptical tone.

"I'm not," He held up his hands, "Hear me out."

Astrid gave him a dubious look. "I'm listening," She assured him, but made sure that he saw how dangerously close he was to losing that attention by raising her brow a fraction. Inwardly Astrid didn't want Hiccup to leave because she'd gotten used to having him as company on the island. Sure enough there were other Vikings that she could talk to and even have a more stimulating discussion than the one she was having now, but she didn't want another boring discussion about hunting. She wanted to talk about the things that Hiccup had discovered on his most recent excursions throughout the waters with Toothless. Both of them seemed to find new things every single time they took off.

It was even more so that Hiccup seemed to know exactly what to bring back to give to Astrid as a gift. Every time it was something completely unexpected but still something that Astrid could appreciate since she knew that each one was coming straight from the bottom of Hiccup's abundantly deep heart.

Astrid couldn't believe that over a year ago she wouldn't have even given Hiccup a second glance. He was, for lack of a better term, the "Village Idiot." He had nothing to contribute and was always getting in the way of what other Vikings were trying to accomplish. He had given everyone a reason to fear for the future of the village, which had no one fit to replace the current Chief, Stoick the Vast, when the time came for him to pass on his position. It would usually go to the next member of the family, but Hiccup hardly fit the bill. He was everything that a Viking "shouldn't be" the previous Astrid would have said.

Now Astrid knew better. Hiccup was the Viking that everyone else "couldn't be." He could be compassionate, daring, and heroic in ways that most Vikings couldn't even deem possible. As time went on Astrid noticed Hiccup had become increasingly bolder. He would go on hunts alone with Toothless and return with more than enough meat to feed half the village. On top of that, Hiccup did these things without a second glance backwards.

Sometimes this new side of Hiccup frightened Astrid. He could be the same old sarcastic, yet endearingly compassionate guy he always had been, and then a second later he was a completely different person. He had new confidence that drove him to accomplish great tasks. Stoick couldn't have been more proud of his son at this point. Time and time again Hiccup had proven he could lead the younger trainees and he had successfully trained himself physically enough that he could hold his own for a short amount of time. Though he still remained vastly less strong than Astrid or Snoutlout, Hiccup made up for any discrepancies with his strong will and affirmation that he was in fact the Chief's son and had to show as much.

If anyone understood that, Astrid did. She didn't exactly believe that he could become a clan Chief at all over a year ago, but now she was sure that Hiccup was the only one with enough bravery and heart to lead the village at this point. He had the free spirit and patience to understand everything around him that no one else had. He brought back many lives from the battle with the Green Death and willingly lost his own leg to ensure the safety of everyone, even those who had shunned him for years. Hiccup was pure-hearted. No matter who hurt him, he valued every life equally. It was almost hard to be around someone who was so genuine when Astrid herself admitted that she had many things she wasn't proud of doing. Especially the things she'd said to Hiccup himself.

But in the back of her mind something nagged her to be stubborn and force Hiccup not to leave. It was ultimately her own knowledge that Hiccup and Toothless couldn't really go anywhere without one another that won her over. She sighed and looked at Hiccup. His green eyes shone as he spoke calmly and plainly about his thoughts.

"So, what I mean is that you can't expect me to stay and let Toothless go find his family on his own. Toothless is my family as much as my father is. I can't let him go alone," Hiccup continued. "Do you understand, Astrid?"

"I do," Astrid said with some resentment. She hadn't always been this soft, had she? Astrid couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she had a weakness. Especially the weakness wasn't a form of attack, it was a person.

"You _do_?" Hiccup repeated as though not quite believing what he'd just heard. "Is it just me or are you really agreeable today?"

"Do you want me to disagree with you, because I can do that too," Astrid returned. Hiccup's lip twitched into a grin at that. She was getting pretty good at enacting her own dry sense of humor. Hiccup knew that part of that was his fault, not that he minded.

Astrid then let her own misgivings run rampant over her mind. She knew that Hiccup was more than capable of handling himself and that he and Toothless would look after one another. But she wasn't sure about what would come of the two flying into unknown territory and possibly running into what could be another Green Death situation-in which case Hiccup might not be as lucky as to only lose a limb instead of his life.

Astrid was positive that something, whatever it was, would go wrong. It was the nature of Vikings to get into trouble that was too big for their britches and almost get killed by it. Hiccup was certainly no exception to that rule, though he was for many of the other unwritten Viking rules.

"Astrid, I know you don't like this," Hiccup said, licking his lip, "But if it's any consolation I don't either."

Astrid raised her eyebrow, "What are you talking about, yes you do," She said with a scowl. "You can't help but get yourself tangled in yet another hair-brained scheme. One, I might add, that's far more brainless than the last one."

Hiccup raised his own brow this time, "If I remember correctly, you begged me to go on the last one."

"What, you weren't going to?" Astrid gave him a suspicious look. Toothless let out a laugh that shook the ground they were standing on. Hiccup decided he was better off not answering that question.

"Anyways, this one won't take long," Hiccup said, "We're just going to see if Toothless' parents are on the island he used to live on and then we're coming back."

Astrid stepped closer to Hiccup, causing him to almost stagger backwards again, but Toothless was there to make sure his rider didn't fall over. "Hiccup, if that was all it was, then why aren't you looking me in the eyes?"

Hiccup had to admit she had a point, "Well, you know that things don't always go as planned." He said with a shrug. "It's all part of growing up and being a Viking."

"Right," Astrid said, "Except that you're not a Viking. You're alive after all this time because you're not."

"I think I know where this one is going," Hiccup said with a massive eye roll.

"Hiccup, this isn't a joke!"

"I didn't say it was," Hiccup said calmly. He placed two hands on Astrid's shoulders. "Whatever you have to say, Astrid, I'll listen. If you have anything to say now, please just say it."

Astrid mulled over the million and one reservations she wanted to voice but decided to keep them to herself in the end. "I- it's nothing. I'll help you pack."

Hiccup's green eyes regarded Astrid for a moment before he nodded. It was clear that he didn't believe her one bit but he wouldn't say anything unless Astrid wanted to open the conversation again.

"Looks like we're going, Toothless," Hiccup said as he patted Toothless' neck. The dragon let out a purring sound to show he understood.

"Wait, aren't you forgetting someone?" Astrid asked. Hiccup turned and then hit his forehead with his palm.

"Oh, right," Hiccup said, "Dad."

* * *

Stoick the Vast sat with a scowl that almost seemed to rival his expansive chest. The Viking Chief had not heard such a ridiculous request from his son since Hiccup had decided not to follow the ways of the Viking and refuse to fight the Nightmare on the day of his Final Exam as a Viking.

"You want me," Stoick said slowly, "To let you go off to an island that you don't even know exists and possibly is infested by rogue dragons?"

"Actually, Toothless knows where it is," Hiccup pointed out. But Stoick's glare told Hiccup the Chief wasn't amused.

"That's not the point!" Stoick growled, "You don't know anything about this island or if Toothless' family is even there!"

Hiccup's eyes narrowed as he matched his father's gaze unwaveringly, "Dad," Hiccup said in the same calm tone he had used to convince Astrid to come with him on a flight on Toothless. "If there was a chance that mom was still alive and living somewhere in the world, wouldn't you want to go find her?"

Stoick, "What? Of course I would. But that's not the same thing here."

Hiccup gestured to the door, where outside the small shed, Toothless was waiting, "Isn't though?" Hiccup asked evenly, his eyes suddenly lit with a fire that that Stoick had to admire seeing in his son for the first time, "We're all family. Us, our dragons, there isn't a difference. Not if we really have changed since last year."

Stoick sighed, placing his head in his hand. Hiccup's sense of reason was a trait that came from Hiccup's mother. She had been a wonderful fighter, but her sharpest weapon was her tongue. Stoick had never won against her in a battle of words, let alone swords, since those were another one of her specialties.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Son?" Stoick asked finally. Hiccup nodded.

"Toothless is family, Dad," Hiccup replied, repeating similar words to those he'd uttered to Astrid before, "If I didn't, I'd be denying where Toothless came from." Birthplaces were important to Vikings as they symbolized everything from heritage to the loyalty that one had.

"If you're sure, Son, then I doubt I could stop you or," Stoick cast a wary glance towards the door, "Toothless."

Hiccup's toothy grin spread across his face, "I'm sure." He assured his father and gave Stoick a quick hug. "I've got to finish packing." Hiccup then went out the door and Stoick had to shake his head.

"He already started packing, the nerve of the young these days," Stoick muttered.

* * *

As dawn slowly approached, the orange and purple cast rays across the trees that reflected off Toothless' bright scales as he stood atop the cliff overlooking the docks. He kept a respectful distance as Astrid and Hiccup talked.

"So, when do you think you'll be back?" Astrid asked, trying to sound as unperturbed by the whole situation as possible. Hiccup caught the tension in her voice but didn't comment on it still. As much as it hurt him to know that Astrid was unnerved by his departure, he knew he had a loyalty to Toothless to take the dragon to the island of the dragon's birth.

"Not long if the weather holds out," Hiccup said and glanced sideways at Toothless, who was giving Hiccup a knowing look that said 'among other things.' "We'll be back before you even know we're gone," When she didn't respond, Hiccup punched her in the shoulder.

"Hey!" She exclaimed.

He smiled, "That was for not smiling," Astrid gave him a strange look. He then leaned over and kissed her longer and harder than she had him. They hadn't kissed since the battle, mostly due to the unfolding of the new dragon training sessions, which Hiccup was in charge of since he knew the most about dragons and then Hiccup's determined new training regime with Toothless on their own. As Hiccup pulled away he nodded, "That was for everything else."

As he started away, Astrid called after him, "Hiccup!"

He turned, "Don't do anything stupid."

Hiccup gave her a dubious look, "Who, me?"

"Hiccup," Astrid said more sternly this time.

"Okay, okay," He held up his hands, "I'll try not to."

"Hiccup."

Toothless made a low growl at Astrid, as if to say, "That's the best you're going to get out of him."

"I heard that," Hiccup said as he climbed onto his dragon. Astrid gave Hiccup's hand a quick squeeze before backing away so Toothless could spread his wings. Within seconds the two were in the air and a disappearing speck in the cloudy skies.

Astrid stood on the cliff, watching until she couldn't see the pair any longer. She slowly turned around and headed back, knowing it didn't do much good to look back once she decided to do something, even if it meant trusting in another one of Hiccup's crazy plans.

Hiccup and Toothless had been flying for at least an hour before Hiccup noticed that the further into the mist they flew, the colder the air became. Hiccup winced as the icy cold wind whipped against his face and burned his throat.

Toothless moaned and Hiccup shook his head, "I'm fine, Toothless." The dragon seemed to accept Hiccup's response, albeit reluctantly, because Toothless continued to fly straight into mist. Hiccup wasn't sure how long they'd be engulfed in the misty skies, but he did get the feeling that it wouldn't be long before Toothless tired out from flying. Despite the dragon's strength and endurance, Toothless probably didn't like flying in the cold air any more than Hiccup did.

Without warning something thumped against Hiccup's prosthetic leg. Hiccup's green eyes abruptly whipped around just as a large tail swung around and struck Toothless at mid-height and sent the dragon spiraling through the air. Hiccup tried to grasp the saddle but soon found himself plummeting through the air.

Toothless let out a long roar and rammed the attacker before diving after his rider. A tunnel of flame followed both dragon and rider as another deep roar echoed through the skies.

* * *

_**A/N- Longer chapter! Yay! =) I hope everyone enjoyed this update. **_

**Thanks to the following people for reviewing, alerting, and/or favoriting this story:**

**Associate Proffesser Evil**

**ScarsOfTime**

**GeffyB**

**3catfish3**

**sunniphrost**

**Adm. J. Kirk McGill**

**Dino-Sauce84**

**Paosheep**

**Phoenix Sealer**

**Wirewolf**

**Yapay the Master Elite**

_**You guys rule! Thanks for all your support! =) **_


	3. Sticks and Stone

**Chapter 3**

**Sticks and Stone**

_A/N- Yes, I am borrowing the title from the end song in HTTYD. Jonsi owns the song and title though. =) _

_Hokay, so here's the Earth… just kidding. =P _

_I'm going to try not to drag the beginning of this story too much. I don't think too much of the introductory blah-blah is necessary though. =) I will be detailed and descriptive as much as possible though. So expect that to increase. _

_As always I appreciate feedback, so be sure to review if there's something you liked or something you'd like to see more of (story-wise I can't make any guarantees as to whether or not I'll include your ideas or not- but I will consider it to say the least). I write by my own standards (but I am responsive to comments made by readers in general). _

_Well, I think that about covers everything that needs saying for this chapter. I'm going to move the rating for this story down a rating (and will move it back up if the need arises). So far I don't think there's a need for an M rating. _

_Need I say it? Oh, very well. THANKS FOR READING!!!_

_Happy, Toothless? (Shrugs) At least Toothless is at any rate. _

_Toodles,_

_-Don ^_^_

_

* * *

_

Hiccup's body curled into a ball as he fell and he felt the pull of gravity on his prosthetic leg, making it hard for him to resist the already inevitable fall. He could only hope that he'd fall slowly enough for Toothless to catch him, but the thought soon left his mind as he saw the slowly approaching tunnel of flames that first swallowed Toothless and then Hiccup. The flames tore through his clothes, burning into Hiccup's arms. He was infinitely glad that he was wearing a thick fur vest or his entire back would have been burned as well. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and his fall quickened, forcing the air from his lungs momentarily. For that moment, he felt nauseated and his senses were thrown into a whirl, not that they weren't already. Hiccup turned his head as he saw Toothless emerge from the flames to swoop underneath Hiccup, growling his concern at his rider's burns.

"I'm fine, Bud," Hiccup said, though he knew he really wasn't. His burns were already sending a cold shiver through his body. Hiccup winced as he set his prosthetic leg down in its stirrup. He almost didn't want to see what had happened to his legs but did anyways. Both pant legs were almost completely burned away and pieces hung loosely to reveal the severe burns that lined Hiccup's leg and what remained of his other one. He sucked in his breath and turned his head around as the attacker appeared out of the clouds once more.

"Odin alive," Hiccup's breath barely managed to mutter, half in awe and half in horror. The monstrous dragon flapping its way towards Toothless and Hiccup was not only twice the size of the Green Death, but it was an unusually familiar shape.

"Toothless, please tell me that's not your mother," Hiccup said, forcing his legs to not lose their grip on the saddle. It was becoming increasingly difficult as Hiccup was steadily losing the feeling in both of his legs. Toothless let out a roar and shot fire at the incoming dragon. The oversized Night Fury let out another roar and sent another tunnel of flames, this time knocking Hiccup clean off the saddle and causing him to fall, this time straight into the water below.

* * *

Astrid let out a grunt of frustration as she threw yet another ax at the tree she'd been using for target practice. Not only had she not been able to hit the same place more than once, she was also unable to locate her Nadder, Rooney, for most of the day. The dragon had decided to take a long flight and hadn't returned for her daily training with Astrid. Why Astrid had decided to call her dragon Rooney, she didn't know. It was a name that had come up when she'd been talking with her mother and the dragon liked it so much that it stuck.

It was better than the names of the other dragons in the village. Snoutlout, in his excitement had decided to call his dragon "The Killer" which had translated to the dragon as "Triller" so that stuck. The twins named each head themselves, Ruff calling hers "Buff" and Tuff naming his "Brute" as the dragon had the annoying tendency to barge into the fights Tuff had with his sister at all the wrong moments.

Fishlegs had gone with the name "Boris" since he had had a fascination with the name since his first pet had shared the same name. Unable to think of anything else and seeing as the Gronkle had no issues with its new namesake, it stayed as well and to Astrid's dismay, Boris ended up being a much more normal name than her choice.

Astrid was about to throw another ax when she heard a low roar and trees crunched as her dragon made a characteristically ungraceful landing next to Astrid.

She sighed, "Do you have to make an appearance every time you land?" Astrid gave her dragon a look of pained exasperation and in response Rooney snorted smoke into Astrid's face before the dragon let out a low roar and jerked her head up, gesturing to the sky.

"What's wrong?" Astrid questioned. The dragon continued to wail and jerk her head towards the sky to the point where Astrid was forced to climb aboard the dragon and hover in order to see what was wrong.

The sky was normal up until the mist started, and there in the midst of the mist was a growing ball of flames and every so often Rooney would wince as if she'd been struck.

"Rooney, what's going on?" The dragon jerked her head from side to side now, as if trying to rid herself of a thought. "Rooney!" Astrid groaned, realizing that she wasn't getting anywhere with the dragon's jerking and roaring. She would have to investigate the matter herself. Astrid quickly situated herself, but before she could take off, a loud crunching noise turned her head.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Astrid blinked to see that not only had the rest of the trainees arrived in the forest, but they were all with their dragons.

"Why should it matter to you?" Astrid asked, narrowing her eyes. Snoutlout, who had spoken first, frowned.

"Because Triller wasn't shutting up and the rest of the dragons seem to have lost their nerves," Snoutlout jerked his thumb back at the rest of the trainees. "We're wondering if you know anything about it."

Astrid shook her head to the dismay of the rest of the trainees, "I don't know, but I have a hunch," She glanced up at the sky where the mist was steadily growing into what looked like a giant storm cloud of gray smoke and flame.

"That's the direction Hiccup went in," Fishlegs said and then caught himself when he noticed that Astrid had twitched at the mention of Hiccup's intended destination. Astrid then urged Rooney into the air.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Snoutlout yelled, climbing aboard his own dragon.

"Where else?" Astrid said, her blue eyes flaring, "To find Hiccup and Toothless. I have a good idea that they're the center of whatever's over there." In a second all the other trainees were on their dragons and hovering next to Astrid and Rooney.

"You're going to need this," Ruffnut said, tossing Astrid a bag, which she caught and inspected. It was filled with rations and supplies for travel. "You really don't know what you're doing, do you?"

"Like you do," Tuffnut retorted, receiving a punch from his sister.

"I think we should, um, go, Guys," Fishlegs said nervously and the others followed his gaze to the growing cloud and flames as it expanded. Astrid needed no second telling as she urged Rooney into the sky once more, this time followed by the other dragons and their trainees.

* * *

Toothless let out a low wail of despair as he watched in horror as his rider fell into the crashing waves of the water below. With his current engagement with the massive Night Fury, Toothless was helpless to do anything to aid his friend, and didn't like it one bit. Toothless let out a low growl before he sunk his teeth into the leg of the other Night Fury before letting loose a flame into its left wing. The leathery skin sizzled and then ebbed away to the point where the dragon was thrown off. Toothless wasted no time in using the distraction to dive bomb towards where Hiccup had fallen.

The dragon slowed as he approached the waves, jerking his head left and right to look for where Hiccup was, but didn't see him. A roar shook the sky and the massive Night Fury dove, quickly gaining on where Toothless was hovering. The small night fury turned his head up and as the larger dragon opened its jaws, he shot a blast of flames into its mouth. The large dragon coughed and then responded by shooting a blast of flames into the water and then winged itself away, a soft cry emitting from its mouth.

Toothless roared, his cry almost drowned out by the steady growing of the storm as it gathered momentum. The waves crashed against the few rocks nearby but nowhere did Toothless see his rider. Growing panicked, Toothless let out an unearthly wail and then shot a purple blast into the mist above him.

Toothless then jerked his head around as he noticed a small figure near one of the rocks. Somehow the limp form wasn't floating away and as Toothless flew lower he noticed the brown hair of his rider. Toothless dove down and noted that the only reason Hiccup hadn't drifted under the water was the fact that his prosthetic leg was lodged into a crevice in the rocks and though it was at an awkward angle, it had managed to keep him from falling off the small platform and into the water. Toothless gently touched down beside his rider and used his teeth to pry Hiccup's prosthetic leg from the crevice.

With his rider in his claws, holding on as firmly as possible without hurting Hiccup any further, Toothless took flight, flying further into the mist until an island loomed in the distance. He hadn't even noticed how far his fight with the other night fury had brought him from where they had flown originally. He could only hope that it wouldn't be long before Hiccup woke up. Toothless landed on the shore of the island, laying Hiccup on the ground before Toothless.

The small boy was pale and still hadn't moved. Toothless made a low moaning sound and nudged Hiccup, but the boy did not stir. Toothless snorted and then backed away, breathing a small amount of fire onto the ground before pulling Hiccup into the warm embrace of his wings. Toothless gently rested his head on his rider's chest, but didn't feel the steady thumping. With a frightening whine through his nostrils, Toothless let himself hug Hiccup tighter.

When nothing happened, the dragon let Hiccup out onto the sand again. Two yellow and mournful eyes regarded his rider. It was then that Toothless heard roars from the sky and immediately bared his teeth and moved in front of his rider, poised to attack.

"Look! It's Toothless!"

"Where's Hiccup, can you see him?"

"He's-"

Several thuds shook the sand as the trainees and their dragons landed. Immediately Astrid leapt off of Rooney and rushed forward, only to be stopped by Toothless, who was growling, not moving from his place in front of Hiccup.

"Toothless, it's us," Snoutlout said, stepping forward but backed off when Toothless' snorted fire onto the ground in front of him, a clear indication that he wasn't going to let anyone near Hiccup. "Astrid, you've got to talk to him."

Astrid felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as Toothless' growl grew steadily more defensively aggressive. The dragon was clearly frightened for Hiccup and because of it wasn't going to let anyone near the boy.

"Toothless," Astrid said in as calm a voice as she could manage, "We need to get to Hiccup in order to help him." She took a step forward, causing Toothless to growl and snarl. "It's the only way, Toothless." The dragon didn't seem to be listening because he snapped his jaws and pawed at the ground, backing away so that his wings sheltered Hiccup from the rain that had started to dot the ground in a light drizzle.

"Astrid," Fishlegs said in a low voice. She didn't turn. "Astrid, look." With some irritation she turned and then looked up, now seeing why Fishlegs had sounded so frightened.

Hovering in the sky above them was an entire flock of dragons, all of them black Night Wings and in the center was a Night Wing twice the size of the Green Death. Its left wing was badly singed but it seemed to fly just fine without the wing bothering the dragon.

Silently the dragons all glided down to where the trainees were all standing, their own dragons baring their teeth at the newcomers. The largest dragon stepped forward and seemed not to register the other dragons or their trainees as it approached Toothless.

Steam emitted from the dragon's nostrils as it stood over the smaller Night Wing. For what seemed like an eternity the two dragons stared each other down before Toothless let out a warning growl. The larger dragon lowered its nose and touched it to Toothless' own. Slowly Toothless' growling subsided and he let out a rumbling purr from the core of his chest.

"What is he-?" Snoutlout began but Astrid smacked him in the chest. The boy fell silent, though not without a wary glance at the large Night Fury. Toothless then blinked and then began to once more shelter Hiccup with his wings. The larger dragon's eyes glowed with an indecipherable light and mix of emotions. With one look at Toothless, who was now cradling Hiccup and then another at the rest of the flock, stepped forward. The dragon touched its large nose to nudge Toothless until he let the larger dragon see Hiccup.

Astrid's breath held. She couldn't be sure of what this larger Night Fury wanted or what it thought of Hiccup or Toothless. For all she knew the larger Night Fury was an enemy of Toothless and had been the cause of Hiccup's current state. The larger dragon then pressed its nose onto Hiccup's chest and immediately the boy sputtered and he choked water from his mouth and then lay back on the sand.

The dragon then turned its head to face Astrid, as if to say, "It's alright now." Though what was alright with the fact that the dragon had known exactly what to do to help Hiccup was beyond Astrid's scope of understanding and she was positive that no dragon, unless it had been around humans, could have known just how much pressure to apply to a human in order to revive someone who was unconscious.

Astrid found herself becoming steadily more and more perplexed as the scene before her grew clearer. It was obvious that this flock of Night Furies knew Toothless and that at this point she knew that they weren't enemies. Beyond that Astrid could only make a guess as to what was going on.

Suddenly Astrid found the larger dragon's eyes resting on her. The yellow ovals narrowed and then widened, as if searching Astrid for her true intentions. The eyes bore deep into Astrid's body and went the dragon finally returned its eyes to their normal position, Astrid felt extremely vulnerable.

Then she turned her head to where Hiccup lay, still very much protected by Toothless' wings. All the Night Furies were calmly sitting a good distance away from their leader now that they sensed nothing was amiss. Astrid looked at Toothless, who had now stood up and was looking at the large Night Fury with an expression that Astrid had seen many times before.

They had found Toothless' family. The large dragon turned its head to regard Astrid as if to affirm her realization.

"You can hear me, yes?" Astrid nearly fell over. The dragon's piercing gaze rested on her. The mouth of the larger dragon was moving and Astrid could only jaw her own mouth in stunned silence.

"It is surprising that you have lost your speech, Ki'shna," The larger dragon then said to Toothless, who could only make a small growl in response. The name uttered by the larger dragon sounded more like a cacophony of humming noises that Astrid could make out to sound like "Kiii-sh-nnaaa." It was a beautiful harmony but it was one that Toothless had never uttered in all the time that Astrid had known the Night Fury. She doubted Hiccup had ever heard such a harmonic sound from Toothless either.

"What do you mean he lost his speech?" Snoutlout blurted. The large Night Fury turned its head to look at Snoutlout.

"All dragons are born with the ability to harmonize and thus are able to speak through pitches to any and all creatures, even humans, who have terrible voices," The dragon squinted as if trying to erase the painful sound of Snoutlout's voice. "That is why you can understand me now. Ki'shna understands you as well, but he has unlearned his ability to sing by spending time among other speechless dragons." The large dragon looked over at the rest of the dragons, who seemed to falter under the larger dragon's gaze. "I was trying to sing to Ki'shna earlier but he didn't understand me so he attacked.

"I feared he was under attack by humans when I saw the boy on his back," The dragon looked over at Hiccup. "But it seems I was wrong in thinking that of someone Toothless has come to regard as kin."

Astrid looked at Toothless, who was still staying close to Hiccup, but his ears were moving to listen to the words the larger dragon was humming.

"You all are lucky to have spent as much time around dragons as you have," Another one of the Night Furies said, "It is because of this that you can understand us to the extent you can. Though your voices sound horrible."

"Gi'laaa," The larger dragon hummed in a lower octave, silencing the other Night Fury, "There will be time for idle chatter later. Right now we must all get out of the storm before it hits." The larger dragon spread its wings and nodded to Toothless, who scooped Hiccup onto his claws and then the larger dragon looked to the trainees and their dragons.

"Well, Young Ones, shall we?" The dragon's wings spread and nearly reached from the gathering of Night Furies to the trainees in wingspan. As soon as all the trainees were mounted, the dragons took off, following the largest Night Fury into the far reaches of the mountains on the island.

They passed over forest after forest, lakes, plains, and then cliffs loomed in the distance with a cave large enough to swallow the entire village of Berk and then some. The Night Furies landed inside the cave, folding their wings back as they walked inside.

As soon as all the trainees were inside, Astrid looked up as two of the Night Furies landed and placed a piled of logs, sticks, and stones in front of her feet. The Night Furies then followed their kin to the back, leaving the trainees, their dragons and the largest Night Fury.

"Build your fire, it will get cold at night," The large Night Fury hummed and then lay down, resting its head on its front legs, still watching the trainees as they built their fire.

Astrid cast a glance backwards at the dragon, wonder lit in her eyes. She then re-focused her attention on Hiccup as Toothless laid his rider next to the campfire that had just been built. She pulled out a blanket and gently eased it under Hiccup's head. Without pausing she then went through the supply pack until she found the bandages and salves.

The large dragon watched Astrid silently, yellow eyes soft and almost with a gentle regard for the girl. She then turned to look over at the large dragon. "You haven't told us what your name is," Astrid pointed out. "I'm Astrid, this is Hiccup," She gestured to Hiccup, "That's Snoutlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and the one on the far end is Fishlegs."

The large dragon inclined its head, "I am Kuuwaay," The dragon sang, "I trust you've realized by now that I am Ki'shna's parent."

Astrid paused at the singular use, "What happened to Toothless-I mean Ki'shna's mother?"

The large dragon turned his head to look over at Toothless as the small dragon watched over Hiccup with a watchful eye. "The same storm that separated Ki'shna as a hatchling also separated him from his flight with his other parent or mother as you humans sing it," There was a sad sound in the hum of the dragon as he sung the last few words, "Her wings were broken in the storm and as you may have already realized, a dragon without wings, is a fallen dragon." Astrid winced at the words. They were the same ones that Gobber had used when teaching the young trainees how to kill dragons in the ring. If it hadn't been for Hiccup, she wouldn't be here having this conversation with a dragon of all creatures.

Then Toothless must have found the nest with the Green Death in it as a substitute parent and begun to live by causing terror on Berk. No wonder there weren't any other Night Furies around the nest, Toothless wasn't from there originally. It all made sense now. Astrid returned her attention momentarily to bandaging Hiccup's cuts and the small gashes he had on the back of his real leg and torso.

Toothless let out a low moan that sounded to Astrid like a cross between, "Is he okay?" and "I'm worried." The two were definitely similar sounds and Astrid knew them well from her own experience.

"He'll be fine, Toothless," Astrid assured the dragon, who growled again to show that he would keep watch. Kuuwaay looked at his son and then at Hiccup, a smile, a well formed smile that was different than the ones Toothless usually showed, crept across Kuuwaay's features in a content way that only a parent could express when looking at a child.

Astrid had to smile herself at that before returning to finish bandaging Hiccup's injuries and then using the salves to treat his burns. As the fire dimmed, she forced her eyes to stay open. Even Toothless' head and eyes were starting to droop in unison but he force them open as well, his gaze still watching over Hiccup.

It was only when Kuuwaay brushed his wing over the smaller Night Fury that Toothless drifted off to sleep with the reassurance that his father was watching over the entire cave. Astrid soon found herself comforted with the fact, after all, what was safer that being watched over by a giant dragon?

She didn't manage to answer before sleep took her.

* * *

**A/N- Woo, that was a long one. I hope you guys liked it. =) **

**Again thanks to the following people for reviewing, alerting, and/or favoriting:**

**Celestial-Kitsunei**

**Zego**

**FuyuSarah**

**Kenyon Trials**

_**You guys rule! **_

_**Until the next time! **_

_**This has been,**_

_**Don "QuixoticQuest" ^_^ **_


	4. Flight and Fight

**Chapter 4**

**Flight and Fight**

_A/N- You guys are rockin' in the review/alerts/favorites department and I'm definitely getting writing itches (that only get better when I get any sort of response from my readers) so keep it up! _

_Best,_

_-Don ^_^_

_PS- If you give a dragon a cookie, he'll probably want some fish to go with it. _

_

* * *

_

Astrid's eyes slowly opened to the low rumbling of the dragons around her. The Night Furies all sounded far more harmonized in their sleep, despite the fact that they were clearly all snoring. The sound, even when harmonized, was the same to Astrid's ears. She carefully sat up, looking around and then noticed right away that Hiccup's bedroll was empty. Without a second thought, Astrid was on her feet and half jogged, half fast walked to the entrance to the cave.

She cast a glance upwards just as the wind around her sent a _whoosh _sound through the trees and whipped her hair backwards. Toothless let his wings fold back as he settled on the ledge near where Astrid stood, on his back sat none other than Hiccup himself.

Astrid wasted no time once again in marching over to where Hiccup was dismounting from Toothless' back, and grabbed him by his tunic.

"And just what the hell do you think you were doing?"

Hiccup glanced backwards at Toothless, who blinked, his own surprise showing. "Riding?"

"Hiccup," Astrid seethed through her teeth, "Need I remind you that you were unconscious yesterday?"

Hiccup ran a nervous hand through his hair and then shifted uneasily under her gaze. Suddenly all the confidence he'd been building up for the past year went out of his head and he faltered under the piercing gaze of the Viking girl before him. Hiccup tried to glare right back but failed miserably. He just wasn't good at being mad at anyone, especially not Astrid. The girl sent his usually well ordered mind into a tizzy. Despite his lack of physical strength, Hiccup still had his mind as his best weapon, but right now it was outright failing him completely.

"Yes-um, I mean no, I- what?" Hiccup suddenly registered what she had said. "What do you mean I was unconscious?"

Astrid's eyes continued to glare but her confusion overtook some of the anger, "What do you mean what do I mean? You were unconscious all last night and most of yesterday."

Hiccup's usually calm green eyes widened and then he frowned slightly, "I don't remember anything."

Astrid stared at him, "Nothing?"

Hiccup thought for a moment, "Well, I remember something flying at us while we were flying and then it's all a blank." He looked at Astrid, fear clearly lined his eyes.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, now calming herself down enough to see that he was unnerved by the news. He then pulled back his pant leg and then glanced over at Astrid.

"What happened?"

"You were attacked," Astrid said slowly, "By another Night Fury."

Hiccup's eyes widened once more and then he glanced over at Toothless, who seemed to be averting his eyes in shame that he had allowed Hiccup to be injured by a fellow Night Fury. Hiccup then grimaced as the wind stung at his burns. He tried to cover his expression but Astrid had already noticed.

"Let's go back inside," She said in a tone that indicated that she wasn't allowing for any argument. Once inside, they both sat on their bedrolls with Toothless lying close to Hiccup's side. He rubbed the dragon's head in silence until Astrid decided it was up to her to break the ice she could feel forming between them. Why, Astrid could only guess.

Hiccup's eyes continued to avoid Astrid's until she managed to find the words to express one of the many things that were on her mind, "Toothless was worried about you. He wouldn't let any of us get near you when we found both of you on the island." Hiccup looked over at Toothless, who let out a low growl of concern. Hiccup placed a hand on his friend's head.

"I'm fine, Bud," Hiccup assured the dragon. Hiccup then turned his head, and to his surprise saw a look on Astrid's face that he was sure that she didn't know she was showing. It held a heavy weight of fear, anxiety, and concern. All of them emotions that she never would should purposely to anyone, not even Hiccup.

"Are you okay, Astrid?" Hiccup questioned. Astrid laughed and stood up.

"Of course I am," She said in a confident tone but Hiccup heard the barely inaudible crack in her voice as she said that. "Well, I'm going to go get some firewood." She quickly made her way over to where Rooney slept and woke the dragon up. The female Nadder glared at her rider before obliging the girl in a short flight into the woods. Hiccup watched them leave, his green eyes full of confusion and worry. _What exactly happened while I was unconscious? _Toothless nudged Hiccup's arm, causing the boy to look over and smile.

"Don't worry, Bud," Hiccup said, though he had yet to believe his own words.

* * *

Astrid immediately started to berate herself the minute Rooney took off for the forest. How could she have let herself be so openly emotional? It was obvious that Hiccup had noticed her strange behavior and because he was, well, Hiccup, he didn't say anything about it. If anything he was probably thinking it was something he'd done and was finding some way to blame himself for her behavior.

Hiccup would never think badly of her no matter what she did. Even if she showed her worst fears and weaknesses, her innermost secrets, he wouldn't ever shun or look down on her for it like other Vikings might. No, Hiccup would accept them as part of Astrid because that was who he was. Hiccup was a pure-soul. It made Astrid wonder how such a person ended up being born a Viking when he clearly didn't have the heart to kill any living thing. The way he faltered when faced with the death of even the smallest creature, like a rabbit, or even the fishes he brought to Toothless to eat, his eyes were filled with a sense of regret.

She wouldn't ever tell him that she'd seen the small garden he'd planted in the clearing where he'd met Toothless. It was obscured by the trees, so at first glance it didn't seem unusual or out of place. But at close proximity it was truly different from the trampled and worn forestry around the garden. The little flowers and plants, small seedlings of various trees, scattered around the ground where the trees cut off.

The way Hiccup had tended to them made Astrid wonder if he ever intended to finish the project. It was just one time and since then he hadn't gone near the garden as far as Astrid could tell. Maybe it was his duties to the village or his training that kept him from going back, but whatever it was, he hadn't finished the garden.

It left a sort of sad feeling in Astrid's heart. She couldn't tell if it was because she'd seen the way he smiled when he planted the seeds instead of trampling through them like the other Vikings did in their hunts. Or maybe it was because he didn't exactly seem like the kind of person who left things unfinished once he started them. Whatever it was, she knew that she had to ask him about it one day. Astrid shook her head. Or just leave it be. She could do that… couldn't she?

Astrid hopped off Rooney and began collecting wood as she once again was lost in her thoughts. Just how long had she been ignoring how gentle and passionate Hiccup was? Maybe he hadn't been the "Ideal Viking" but he certainly showed that he made up in heart what he lacked in bravery. It was clear from the moment Hiccup had kidnapped Astrid on a ride through the skies that he was a different person from the shy, scared, and pathetic looking boy who fell to the back in the fight, hoping he wouldn't die.

Hiccup was still very much a shy and unaggressive person, but he had a direction in his life. He knew what he was meant to be and even in his worst moments of doubt, he still managed to maintain his confidence. Even Astrid, who had the most confidence of all the trainees, admired how much confidence Hiccup had gained over such a short period of time. Meeting Toothless had changed Hiccup immensely.

Astrid stepped over a log to find more sticks for the fire. She knew that there was still a huge pile of sticks in the cave, but she needed an excuse to get away. Being around Hiccup had sent into silent confusion and that was the last thing she needed right now. She wanted to focus on getting Hiccup back to full health before they headed back home. The sooner he healed the situation would be for everyone.

Astrid sighed and pulled the sticks together with a rope from her pack and then made her way back to where Rooney was standing, her eyes scanning the forest in silence. Once on the Nadder's back, Astrid turned to look around as they took off for the cave.

Rooney landed and immediately the other trainees swarmed her, yelling questions and all began talking at once.

"It wasn't my fault!"

"He just collapsed!"

"What are you talking about, it was so your fault!"

"Was not!"

"Just what's going on here?" Astrid demanded. Fishlegs was the first to step forward, his usual nervous demeanor present as he spoke.

"Um, I think you, uh, need to see this for yourself, Astrid," Fishlegs gestured over to where Toothless was sitting, an anxious expression in his yellow eyes. The other Night Furies stood by, their own eyes watching as Astrid made her way over. It didn't take very long for her to see what all the commotion was about.

"Hiccup," She said in a sharp breath before fast walking over to where Hiccup was lying, his face covered in sweat and his cheeks reddening quickly by the minute. "How long has been like this?" Astrid questioned Kuuwaay. The giant Night Fury leaned his head over, his eyes narrowed.

"Not too long after you left, Hiccup collapsed and he has been feverish ever since," Kuuwaay looked over as Astrid quickly slid her pack from her shoulders and pulled cloth from the leather bag. Fishlegs held out his own water bowl, it was filled to the brim with his ration water. Astrid looked over in surprise and then shook her head.

"Fishlegs, you can't use your ration water," She said but Fishlegs pressed the bowl into her hands.

"Hiccup's my friend too," Fishlegs said and then turned to walk back to his own bedroll, where he sat down to wait. Astrid took the cloth and wet it before placing the compress onto Hiccup's forehead.

There really wasn't much she could do for his fever aside from waiting and constantly using a cold compress to lower his temperature. Fevers, despite how common they were in Berk, were still dangerous. So far the only known cure was time, and that proved to be a problem when a member of the village became so sick that not even the best remedies and treatments could prevent death.

Astrid put the concept from her mind. There was no way that Hiccup would die of a fever. He was too strong for that. Or at least Astrid hoped he was. As soon as she had finished wetting the compress again for the second time, she then mixed some of the herbs from her pack into her own bowl and poured her water ration over the herbs. Once the leaves were well mixed, Astrid lifted Hiccup's head to pour some of it down his throat. He coughed but it went down. She placed the empty bowl on the ground and then gently set Hiccup's head onto his bedroll.

"You must be wondering," Kuuwaay said, "Why we know so much about humans."

Astrid turned her head to look at the Night Fury, "I was. But I didn't think you'd tell us anything."

Kuuwaay laughed, "Because we are dragons or because I already told you enough last night?"

Astrid turned her head away from Hiccup long enough to get a good look at Kuuwaay. He looked older now that she could see the wrinkled lines in his scaly skin and the scars that lined his face. "A little of both," She admitted.

Kuuwaay straightened and turned his head to look over at Toothless, who was in turn watching Hiccup closely. "Ki'shna's mother never returned from her flight with Ki'sha and until now, neither had Ki'shna. We assumed both were long gone to the Winged Lands."

Astrid glanced back at Toothless. She hadn't really thought too much about the prospect of Toothless having a family, let alone a family that would miss his presence. "As for how we know humans," Kuuwaay said slowly, his face growing heavy with the weight of his creased brow as he spoke, "Humans were killing dragons long before I was even born. It was out of defense at first. We attacked those that intruded on our lands and they defended theirs. But soon they brought the fight to our own lands."

Toothless let out a low moaning noise, it was almost a low whistling sound, the softest and saddest noise that Toothless had ever made in the time that Astrid had known the Night Fury.

"You mean…?" Astrid couldn't finish her sentence. She had an image forming in her mind of Viking taking their axes, swords, and various weapons, just like on Berk, and cutting down the Night Furies one by one. Finally Toothless' face appeared and an axe cut off any last screams the dragon had to utter.

"Now you know why he lost his speech," Kuuwaay said, regarding Toothless out of the corner of Kuuwaay's eye, "He saw his own kind murdered and lost the song to express what that felt like. It has happened before."

Toothless leaned his head over and touched his nose to Hiccup's chest. He reached up a hand to stroke his dragon's head before letting his hand fall back onto the ground. Astrid could only guess what was going through the young dragon's head. But she had a feeling it had something to do with Hiccup and how worried Toothless was about his friend.

"Hiccup will live," Kuuwaay said, as if sensing Astrid's thoughts, "He is, after all, bound to life by those close to him."

Astrid stared curiously at the older dragon, expecting some elaboration on his statement, but none came. Kuuwaay simply smiled and continued to watch Toothless for a minute before turning to retreat into the deeper part of the cave.

* * *

Astrid felt a rush of cold air from the front of the cave and pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders. It was freezing and the only reason why the trainees weren't freezing to death was the fact they were all close to the warm bodies of their dragons.

Toothless hadn't left Hiccup's side since he'd fallen ill. Now that Hiccup had begun resting somewhat more peacefully, Toothless had wrapped his wings around the sleeping boy, creating a wall of warmth between Hiccup and the air flowing in from the outside. Astrid turned her head to look at Hiccup and noticed that he wasn't near his bedroll anymore. He had been when she'd fallen asleep but she looked up to see his form was sitting alone on the ledge looking over the forests. Toothless was with him, resting his head on the boy's lap and snoring blissfully.

Astrid stood up and quietly made her way over to where Hiccup stood. After a few minutes of silence between them, Astrid sat down next to him. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Hiccup smiled in his usual way, purely gentle and forgiving. She should have known Hiccup wouldn't blame her. Still she worried sometimes that she took advantage of his kind demeanor. "Hiccup, listen," She noted that he had turned to look at her, quietly watching her with his soft green eyes. "About earlier, I think you should know why I took off."

Hiccup nodded his head but didn't press her. He knew that she would tell him when she was ready, and not before. Hiccup realized a long time ago that Astrid was more than just a warrior girl with the strength to break the bones of any dragon she met, or person for that matter. She was a young woman with an open heart that she wouldn't show to anyone. The fact that Hiccup had seen it, albeit only once or twice, was something he considered to be a gift he could never repay.

"I was worried," Astrid continued slowly. "About whether or not you could handle being attacked by dragons, especially ones that were Toothless' only family," She looked over at him with concern written deeply into her gaze, "You're always pretending that nothing's bothering you that it's hard to tell when you're actually in pain. The way you looked when I told you what had attacked you, I wondered if something would finally break you and you'd never recover from it."

Hiccup smiled again, though this time some of the conflict between his hurt over being attacked and feeling like he should accept Toothless' family despite that they hurt him, showed, "Well, if I'm not dead, I think I'll live." Again Hiccup's dry humor conquered any sort of serious response that Astrid could hope to get from him.

"Hiccup," She said in a tired tone.

"What? It's true, isn't it?" He shrugged his shoulders, "I might have gotten pushed around, burned or whatever," Hiccup noted how much Astrid was rolling her eyes at him for being flippant about his injuries, "But I'm still here."

"For now," Astrid pointed out, "What happens the next time something comes up like this? If we meet a dragon that doesn't want to understand humans?"

Hiccup's eyes averted themselves, and then he turned back to look at Toothless before returning his gaze to Astrid, "Eh, probably something stupid." Astrid punched Hiccup's arm. "I can do crazy too, you know," Hiccup added. Astrid sighed.

"Just shut up, will you?" She sighed and rested her head in her hand. She turned her head as the rustling of clothes told her that Hiccup was getting up. Toothless lifted his head as Hiccup made his way over to the dragon, pulling the saddle tighter around the dragon's back. He climbed onto Toothless' back and then nodded.

"Now?" Astrid whispered and then shook her head before taking Hiccup's extended hand and sitting behind him on the saddle. She slipped her arms around his waist, and though she couldn't see it, Hiccup was smiling over it.

"Okay, Toothless," Hiccup said, "Take us up." The dragon spread his wings and shot into the sky, the water from the clouds whipped through Hiccup's hair and splattered across Astrid's face, but neither seemed to mind.

Toothless dropped out of the clouds and began cruising smoothly through the air.

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah?" Hiccup said as he reached down to pat Toothless' neck. The dragon purred. It had been too long since they had the chance to just fly for fun.

"I," She sighed, for some reason she still couldn't say what she was thinking, "Thank you." It was a far cry from what she meant to say, but it was close enough for now. Hiccup, however seemed confused.

"Um, you're welcome," He managed. Astrid then turned her head.

"Hiccup, look!" He did and noticed the strange sight below them. A whole camp of fully armored soldiers was below them. Hundreds upon hundreds of tents were stretched across the forest and it was obvious that the size of the clearing was due to tree chopping. Hiccup's eyes narrowed.

"Those must be the soldiers Kuuywaay was talking about," Astrid said. Hiccup didn't say anything and his body stiffened.

"Hiccup, we should get out of here," Astrid said in a hushed voice. He nodded.

"Toothless, we need to go," Hiccup whispered and the dragon needed no second telling, because the moment they started to steer away, an arrow whizzed through the air and struck Toothless' side.

The dragon roared and then flapped away, causing Hiccup to grip the saddle tighter with his legs. More soldiers poured out of the tents and began setting up catapults and notching arrows to their bows. Toothless did a rapid turn and shot upwards into the clouds, concealing their location once more.

Hiccup let loose a ragged breath of relief. There was definitely something wrong with those soldiers. They weren't Vikings and they definitely weren't friendly. Whoever they were, Hiccup had a feeling Astrid was right. They were probably the same soldiers who murdered Toothless' family.

"We need to get back to the cave," Astrid said, breaking Hiccup's reverie.

"Right," Hiccup said and Toothless sped up. Within a short amount of time they were back at the cave. Astrid slid down off the dragon, casting a glance at Hiccup, who was frowning deeply. She was once again lost for words to say to him.

"It'll be okay, Hiccup," She said and then went back to her bedroll.

* * *

For the second time that night, Astrid woke up with a cold feeling coming from the cave. This time she woke with a jolt to the noises around her. _Clank. _She sat up abruptly but found that she couldn't move. Two leather gloved hands were holding her arms back. She cast a glance over at the front of the cave. The other trainees were seated in a circle surrounded by strangers dressed in full armor and helmets that hid their faces. Long purple cloaks draped around the shoulders of each soldier. They were the same ones that she had seen when she'd gone flying with Hiccup.

The only soldier in a black cloak stepped over to where Hiccup was standing, his own arms held back by three soldiers. A fifth soldier had a bow that he was aiming straight at Hiccup. One of the soldiers holding Hiccup back had a sword pressed against Hiccup's neck, just under his chin.

"So, where are the dragons?" The black cloaked soldier demanded. Astrid immediately started. Kuuwaay and the other dragons were gone. Even Toothless, who never left Hiccup's side, was missing from the cave. Astrid felt her heart sink into her stomach. So this was about the dragons after all.

"Where are they?" The soldier in the black cloak demanded once more. Hiccup remained calm and Astrid had to admire how he managed show none of his fear, even if he was actually afraid at his core. It was something that a true Viking knew how to accomplish.

"I don't know any dragons," Hiccup lied. One of the soldiers socked Hiccup in his abdomen and Hiccup did his best to hide his grimace. His face was still pale from the fever and his burns were clearly causing him pain. Astrid could only hope he could hold out a little longer.

"We saw you with your dragon, Boy," Another one of the soldiers snarled. Again Hiccup shook his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," He said. The black cloaked soldier then nodded to another one of the others, who stepped forward with a torch.

"Burn it," The black cloaked soldier commanded. The torch touched on the pile of logs that Hiccup now noticed was piled all around the cave.

"Your dragons will show up now," The black cloaked soldier then hit Hiccup over the head with the hilt of his sword and Hiccup went limp in the grip of his captors.

As the soldiers retreated from the cave, the flames slowly surrounded the young trainees, slowly licking its way into the walls and swarming their supplies.

* * *

**A/N- Dun-dun-dun. =) Sorry for taking so long to update. I had a couple of writer's block moments and I had college work to take care of, so I apologize for the delay. **

**Thanks to the following people for reviewing/favoriting/alerting this story: **

**Future Aviator**

**Genome Soldier**

**Isaac**

**.ChancellorZellamirae.**

**Hailsy**

**Kunohara**

_**Oh, and I mistyped one of your names, I meant to type Keyon Trials. My bad. =( **_

_**And to everyone else who is reading this story! You know who you are! =) Thank you!! **_


	5. Through the Fire and the Flames

**Chapter 5**

**Through the Fire and the Flames**

_A/N- Credit to Dragonforce for the lyrics and title used in this fic. I do not own the lyrics or music or the title. In short, I own nothing but my computer. _

_Thanks to ScarsOfTime for introducing me to the song. =) _

_I thought this song seemed appropriate as the artist is Dragonforce (dragons being a huge part of this fic obviously) and the song sort of speaks for itself as to how it's related to my piece now and in future chapters. _

On a cold winter's morning  
In the time before the light  
In flames of death's eternal rain  
We ride towards the fight  
When the darkness is falling down  
And the times are tough alright  
The sound of evil laughter  
Falls around the world tonight  
Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel  
Through the wastelands ever more  
The scattered souls will feel the hell  
Bodies wasted on the shores

On the blackest plains in hell's domain  
We watch them as they go  
In fire and pain, now once again we know

So now we fly ever free,  
We're free before the thunderstorm  
on towards the wilderness  
Our quest carries on  
Far beyond the sundown, far beyond the moonlight  
Deep inside our hearts and all our souls

So far away we wait for the day  
For the light source so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on

As the red day is dawning  
And the lightning cracks the sky  
They will raise their hands to the heavens above  
With resentment in their eyes  
Running back through the midmorning light  
There's a burning in my heart  
We're banished from a time in a fallen land  
To a life beyond the stars

In your darkest dreams you still believe  
Our destiny this time  
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight

And on the wings of a dream so far beyond reality  
All alone in desperation, now that time has come  
Lost inside you'll never find, lost within my own mind  
Day after day this misery must go on

So far away we wait for the day  
For the light source so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on

Now here we stand with their blood on our hands  
We fought so hard now can we understand  
I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can  
For freedom of every man

So far away we wait for the day  
For the light source so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on

-"Through the Fire and the Flames" by Dragonforce

* * *

Pain. That was all that Astrid could think about as soon as she was knocked to the ground and the flames of the spreading fire burned the flesh of her leg before she jerked it inwards. She bit her lip and looked around. Aside from knocking everyone around, nobody was seriously injured. But the fire prevented them from escaped without miraculous jumping skills or, Astrid thought with a bitter grimace, their dragons.

She coughed and glanced over at Fishlegs and the other trainees, who were now standing up to realize their predicament. The real problem, Astrid thought with a sinking feeling, was Hiccup. The boy was completely unconscious and completely surrounded by a sea of flames. Slowly the flames were creating a smoke screen that made it almost impossible to see, let alone talk to any of the other trainees. Astrid could only hope they knew what they were doing and wouldn't do anything stupid in their given situation. No matter what, they all had to make it out alive.

The how, was the real question. Astrid glanced sideways as one of the logs crackled and then tumbled from the stack of logs. The log continued to roll and Astrid dove out of the way right before it smashed into the wall, sending burning slivers of wood everywhere. One struck Fishlegs in his arm and another smacked Ruffnut on the side of her head. She went down, the burn taking its toll on her concentration. Astrid tried to cry out but the smoke filled her lungs and throat and she could only cough.

"Astrid!" Snoutlout called, "We need to get out of here!"

Astrid grunted, "Tell me something I don't know!" She called back and then coughed some more. She glanced sideways. With Hiccup cut off, she wouldn't be able to go anywhere. The others needed her but she couldn't just abandon Hiccup to be burnt to a crisp. She wouldn't. Maybe a year ago she would have done it in a pinch, without a care, but now she would never even consider the thought. It outright horrified her just to think about Hiccup being hurt. The ridiculous difference between her feelings back then and now were really starting to tick her off for reasons she couldn't understand.

"Odin damn it," Astrid cursed before she sucked in her breath and started to back up as far away from the wall of flames between Hiccup and herself. Astrid then heard a loud scream from the front of the cave. She whirled her head around but this time her heart really did drop into her stomach in horror.

"Oh, no," Astrid froze as the black forms of all the Night Furies swarmed the cave, but at the same time the soldiers reappeared and charged the dragons, shooting them relentlessly with arrows. Then a thundering screech pierced the ear of all present and Astrid's face paled. She had only heard that sound once in her entire life, and that was on the same day Hiccup had almost died battling the Green Death.

"Toothless!" Astrid cried but it was too late, the small Night Fury was diving for where Hiccup was but a spear from one of the soldiers got there first. The spear went straight through the dragon's underbelly and pinned Toothless to the ground amidst the flames. He let out a deafening wail and as if on cue, Hiccup sat up, looked around and then staggered to his feet, not caring that he could barely walk, let alone jump. But he managed to do both as his determination to reach the dragon, his best friend and partner. As soon as Hiccup was at Toothless' side, he paused to assess that several armed soldiers were now making their way over to where Hiccup and the downed dragon were.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled and took a deep breath before quickly running through the small opening in the flames to where Hiccup was.

"Astrid, what the-" Astrid cut off any further comments by jerking her head to gesture to the approaching soldiers. Hiccup seemed to understand because he didn't argue with her any further. He knelt next to Toothless and slowly began to work the spear out of Toothless' belly.

"Hiccup, they're still coming," Astrid said in a nervous tone and Hiccup looked up, his eyes unusually serious. Without warning he suddenly snapped into a standing position, the spear in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Astrid questioned.

"I'm going to fight them, what does it look like I'm doing?" Hiccup asked, his tone hinted that he wasn't in the mood for any back forth conversation about the subject.

"They outnumber us," Astrid pointed out. "You'll only end up getting yourself killed, Hiccup."

He turned his green eyes on her, "So what should I do, abandon Toothless? Because I won't do that."

Astrid opened her mouth and then shut it. She'd already known that Hiccup would never abandon Toothless, even if it was to save Hiccup's life, he would never do that. The two were inextricably bonded and that was that. Astrid turned her head, the soldiers were drawing their swords and others were notching arrows to their bows.

"You really are crazy," Astrid said, but with some affection in her tone that she hadn't really expected to be there. Hiccup turned his head at the sound and then smiled before turning his attention back to the soldiers. One lifted his bow and aimed it. But the soldier didn't fire.

"Move, Boy," The soldier commanded. Hiccup remained still and kept his eyes on the soldier, not wavering despite his initial fear. The soldier gestured with his bow, "You and your friends can go free, just give up the dragon."

"Sure," Hiccup said dryly, "So is that why you decided to knock me out, or is was that an accident?"

The soldier didn't flinch at Hiccup's words, "I will kill you, Boy," Something in the soldier's voice seemed almost scared about the prospect but Hiccup ignored it. "Don't you know how to surrender?"

Hiccup shrugged, "Nah, we're Vikings, we have stubbornness issues."

"Vikings?" The soldier in the purple cloak stepped over to where the soldier was talking to Hiccup and Astrid. "If you're Vikings, what in the name of the gods are you doing defending a dragon?"

The tone in the purple cloaked soldier's voice was clear: he thought the trainees were traitors. Hiccup swallowed. He knew it wasn't going to be easy to fight their way out and now it had just gotten harder.

"So you're Vikings, are you?" The purple cloaked soldier asked. "How come you aren't killing the dragons, creatures who have killed hundreds of Vikings and hundreds of us!"

Hiccup sighed. This sounded very much like his conversation with his father not too long ago. The same argument had come up and the same defiant attitude had nearly gotten all of the Viking warriors killed in the process, but thanks to Hiccup, everyone was saved. Hiccup was not about to repeat the same mistakes again. He would stop these soldiers before it came to that.

"Who is 'us'"? Snoutlout demanded. "You've gone on and on about Vikings, so who are you guys?"

The soldier straightened and said in a proud voice, "I am Captain Ulric DeGlade of the Order of Dragon Slayers. Under the oath and loyalty to the King of land of Yuroth, I must terminate any and all who stand in the way of the elimination of dragons," DeGlade then drew his sword along with the other soldiers, who all turned their attention to Hiccup and Astrid.

"Hiccup, now would be a good time for a plan," Astrid whispered. Hiccup flicked his eyes to the front of the cave where the other Night Furies were keeping the remainder of the soldiers busy. He had to think of something and fast. But before he could begin thinking, he turned and saw something blurry coming from his left side and immediately knocked Astrid over before pointing his spear outwards.

"Brakze!" The Captain yelled and Hiccup froze in place as he stared in horror at the end of his spear. It had run straight through the soldier trying to attack from the side. Hiccup could only continue to stare blankly at the soldier in front of him.

"Hiccup!"

He had just killed a man. He had just run someone through with a spear. How did it come to this? Befriending dragons was supposed to end the violence, not continue it. Hiccup didn't move even when Astrid yelled his name several more times.

"Thor," Astrid snarled as she knocked Hiccup aside and pulled the spear from the soldier's chest and began to beat back the other soldiers while Hiccup lay on the ground, his upper body leaned on his elbows and he didn't move. Toothless nudged his rider but the boy didn't stir. Astrid bashed another soldier to the ground before pulling out a small flute from her pocket. It was something that she'd found would get Rooney's attention no matter where Astrid was. Right now she needed the Nadder's help more than ever. Astrid pressed the flute to her lips and played a short tune before deflecting another blow from a soldier. The Captain, though she couldn't see his face, she could tell he was beyond angry. Whoever that soldier was, he had been important to the Captain in some way.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called and suddenly he was on his feet. His eyes filled with a pained expression as he strode across the small pathway between the soldiers and Astrid. Then he stopped, facing the soldiers, his small back to Astrid. She could only stare as he lifted his gaze to the Captain.

"Hiccup, what are you doing? Get out of the way!" Astrid cried. Now wasn't the time for him to be heroic when the soldiers were clearly okay with killing anyone who stood in the way of their goal to kill dragons. But Hiccup remained stationary. His lips slowly moved, so only Astrid was able to make out what he was saying.

"Astrid, when I say go, get on Toothless and get yourself and the others out of here," He kept his eyes on the Captain and before Astrid could respond, he reached backwards and grabbed the spear before charging straight at the Captain. Astrid then noticed how all the soldiers lost attention in the dragons the moment their leader was threatened. _Some dragon killers, no dedication, _Astrid thought bitterly. She turned around and mounted Toothless before the two of them flew towards the front of the cave. At that moment the other trainees' dragons arrived and began shooting fire at the soldiers who were now fully aware that they'd been tricked. The Captain glared blades at Hiccup, who was hopelessly surrounded by the soldiers.

"You have insulted me for the last time, Boy," The Captain then took his sword and slashed at Hiccup's leg. Astrid's eyes went wide with horror as Hiccup went down, his prosthetic leg cut out from under him.

"Hiccup!" She cried but the dragons were all now being bombarded with fire arrows and weren't able to get back into the cave without being hit. Toothless let out a roar of anguish as Astrid forcefully steered him away from the cave. All the Night Furies followed in sober silence.

Astrid had left Hiccup behind. He was captured or dead and it was all her fault. Astrid lowered her gaze and felt a dull ache forming in her chest. Somehow she had to get him out. But for now, she would leave him behind.

Nothing in her life had felt this bad. She had failed to protect Hiccup, she had failed to tell him how she felt, and she had let him be captured.

Toothless let out a growl. "I know, Toothless," Astrid said, "We'll get him back alive." The dragon let out an aggressively affirmative growl. "First, we go back to Berk. Then we go rescue Hiccup."

* * *

**A/N- Sorry for the delay again, Everyone, I've had school work and the usual distractions that life has… blah-blah-blah. You get the picture. **

**Thanks to the following people for reviewing/favoriting/alerting this story: **

**Toothless-the-nightfury**

**Lynii**

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**Team Alice all the way**

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**GamerFreak 007**

**Marstoearth**

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**And everyone else who has given me feedback, you know who you are and you rule! =) **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-Don ^-^**


	6. In the Past

**Chapter 6**

**In the Past**

_A/N- Heya! Well, I'm sort of bored and in the mood to not do work, so I thought I'd update my fan fiction. Don't lecture me on procrastination though, because I a master at it and I do get my work done (I'm not sure how, but whatever). _

_Anyhoo, I got a writing itch that I needed to scratch, so here's the result. I hope everyone enjoyed the last chapter. _

_(Again, I am thanking all new reviewers and the like at the end of the chapter- but thank you to all the old hats as well). _

_As always it is a pleasure writing for you all. _

_Best,_

_-Don ^_^_

_

* * *

_

Hiccup blinked as the sunlight struck him in the face. He sat up, looking up towards the light source. It was coming in through a narrow strip in the side of the wall.

He was in a tower. Hiccup immediately tried to stand up, only to find that he couldn't, his missing prosthetic leg brought him crashing to the stone floor once more.

"So, you are awake," A voice came from the side of the small circular room. Hiccup turned his head slowly to face the person sitting calmly off to the side of the room, his face was obscured by the helmet he wore and his surcoat bore the same crest of a golden dragon as the knights that had ambushed Hiccup and his friends on the dragon island, only this knight's had a black background. The round helmet, with its single slit, divided only by a small sliver of metal, was the work of a master craftsman. If it weren't for his current condition, Hiccup would have admired it more. The knight's gauntlets tightened, making a clinking sound.

"Your injuries are quite bad," The knight continued, as if the knight hadn't seen Hiccup's clearly wary and almost angry stare. "If you will take a vow to never betray the code of honor of the knights, you will be treated and given full status here. You will also be given your freedom in time."

Hiccup shook his head, "You've got the wrong guy, I'm no warrior."

The knight lifted his head and stood up, crossing over to where Hiccup lay on the ground. The knight crouched down, staring carefully into Hiccup's green eyes. "You aren't your father, you know."

Hiccup finally let his scowl show completely, "I know I'm not. If you've actually seen my father, I wouldn't say we look anything alike."

The knight remained impassively un-amused, "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock," the knight spoke Hiccup's name as though he were considering Hiccup's name for the knight's own child and liking the sound of it. The tone caused Hiccup's skin to crawl of its own volition. "A Viking with no skill or desire to kill dragons," The knight almost sounded amused by the concept instead of angry. "How ahead of your time you are, Boy."

"Like I said, I'm not cut out to be a Viking," Hiccup said. "What does it matter to you anyways? You kill dragons for honor," He seethed inwardly at the idea that honor could come from killing a dragon. The Vikings might have started their tradition because of constant attacks, but these knights actually went out of their way to kill dragons. It was their whole lifestyle to find dragons to kill.

"Why not learn how to kill them in a way that suits you?" The knight said in a soft and almost placating tone. Hiccup sighed.

"Because I don't want to kill dragons, or rather, I won't kill dragons," Hiccup stated, "I don't kill dragons, okay? I won't and I never will."

The knight pulled his head back as though he had been slapped, "Never? That's quite a long time to go without a purpose, Boy."

"Why does it matter?" Hiccup asked, "I'm one of the many Vikings who doesn't want to kill dragons."

The knight inclined his head and then gestured with his head to Hiccup, "But you are the one who started that trend."

Hiccup paused and then nodded, "I am, but I don't get why that matters."

The knight sighed for the first time since the conversation had begun, "Are you always this slow?"

"I've been slower," Hiccup said dryly. This knight clearly didn't have any idea how far the Vikings had come and that even if Hiccup wasn't there, they would still be friends with the dragons.

"Then let me get straight to the point, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, son of Stoick the Vast," Hiccup couldn't believe he was actually having this conversation but decided to go along with it for the moment, not that he had any choice, "Without you, your people will continue to live among dragons in harmony. But," The knight held up a finger and then pointed it at Hiccup, "If a an army of dragons were to attack your village, they would be forced into war once more."

"Why would dragons attack us?" Hiccup asked, "We're in harmony right now. It's a little unbelievable at times, but we are."

The knight shook his head, "You are foolishly naïve," He paused and cast a look out the narrow window, "There are many dragons out in the world who would like nothing more than to tear out your insides and then leave them to rot."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the tip, but I'm pretty good on my own."

The knight looked at Hiccup with a strange expression that Hiccup couldn't quite place, "You are not afraid of dragons?"

Hiccup shook his head, "I was, but not anymore. My best friend is a dragon." He shut his mouth but the words were already out and the knight stared at Hiccup coldly.

"A dragon is your best friend?" The knight repeated, "How did you trick it?"

Hiccup shook his head, "I didn't trick it, I couldn't kill him, so I began to study his behavior until we finally understood each other."

The knight remained silent and then continued with his questions, "And this dragon is the reason you have one leg?"

"No," Hiccup said, his voice icy now that the knight was insinuating such a thing about Toothless, "He's not. I lost my leg because another dragon tried to kill everyone in my village and I lost it in the battle again that dragon."

The knight straightened, "But it was still a dragon's fault that you lost your leg. How long will it be until you lose another, hmm? How about your friends? Will they lose limbs as well? How long will it be?"

Hiccup finally felt his insides snap, "I don't know! I don't know, okay?" He glared at the knight, "Look, I don't know what your issue with dragons is, but I'm confident that the dragons we live with care as much about us as we do them."

The knight shook his head, "I have no issues with dragons," The knight said calmly, "In fact, there is only one kind of dragon that the knights here have an issue with."

Hiccup frowned, "Which is?"

The knight stood up, "The Golden Eye," He then crossed over to the window, his hands clasped behind his back, "A dragon with eyes like golden fire and black scales, a terror to behold," The knight turned his head to fixate his gaze on Hiccup. "You Vikings have another name for this dragon, I believe. What was it?" The knight then smiled smugly to himself and although Hiccup couldn't see the knight's face, Hiccup could almost tell what the knight's expression was by the tone of his voice.

"Ah yes," The knight's eyes glinted through the slits, "You call it the Night Fury."

* * *

Astrid hated waiting. It was the only skill she had to master as a Viking and one that Hiccup was much better at than she could ever hope to be. Now was a time when she had no choice but to be patient and she really didn't want to be. Hiccup had be captured and possibly killed because of her and she was not in the mood to be waiting for the Viking council to decide what to do. The answer, at least to Astrid, was obvious.

She sat outside the building on the steps, her elbow resting on her knee and her head resting on her hand. It had been at least two hours already and nobody had come out to say what was going on inside. Astrid grunted and stared angrily out into the night. Toothless was out on the cliff, his injury was preventing him from flying off at the moment and the small dragon was clearly heartbroken over Hiccup. For all Toothless knew, Hiccup was dead. Toothless hadn't left the cliff since they'd arrived and fixed the dragon's wounds up as best the Vikings could. Now Toothless just sat on the rocks, looking out at the water or staring up at the sky as if he hoped Hiccup would come falling onto Toothless' back and nobody would have to worry anymore. The idea was ludicrous, but Astrid couldn't blame the dragon for hoping.

Hiccup was a good friend. No, he was more than that. He was an amazing leader and if she were honest, the best Viking despite that he had to rewrite the entire Viking culture on Berk in order to be the best. For that, Astrid had to admit at some point that he was something else. Over the past year Hiccup had begun to train harder, longer, and increased his work regime until she noticed that he was becoming quicker at responding to attacks. It had become increasingly difficult for Astrid to sneak up on Hiccup any more. Not that she could with Toothless around, but still, the changes were visible.

Hiccup had also become bolder. The way he had kissed Astrid before leaving on his crazy quest to find Toothless' family, was completely new and unlike anything Hiccup had ever done before. Astrid couldn't decide if he was turning over a new leaf or if he had simply done that on impulse. She hadn't thought too much about it at the time, but now it seemed to be completely out of character for the person Hiccup was, even now that he'd changed. A part of her would never admit that she preferred the shy and clumsy Hiccup to the bold and collected Hiccup.

Though he still remained the same when he was around Toothless, no matter how many years would go by, Hiccup and Toothless' dynamic would remain the same. _If Hiccup ever comes back_, the thought hit her and she shook her head to rid her mind of the though.

"Um, hi, Astrid," Astrid looked up to see Fishlegs standing timidly a few feet away from her. He cast a glance behind him, as if worried that someone was going to attack him from behind. Despite his stature, Fishlegs wasn't too courageous. He had the brains to be, but he never did put his mind into fighting the way Astrid or Snoutlout did.

"Did, um, they decide?" Fishlegs asked. Astrid shook her head and stared blankly down at the ground, kicking the dirt with her boot.

"You'd think it'd be easy," Astrid muttered. Fishlegs shifted uneasily. Astrid then looked up, noticing now that she'd made Fishlegs uneasy with her glaring blue eyes.

"Sorry, Fishlegs," Astrid said and then averted her gaze. She wasn't the type to apologize usually, but right now she didn't know what she should be doing.

"Can I sit with you?" Fishlegs asked. Astrid had to smile inwardly. Fishlegs had always ever been the gentleman. He was polite and never said a foul word about anyone, even Hiccup. No matter what anyone said about Hiccup, Fishlegs always remained silent or kept his mind open. Maybe Fishlegs was the one who knew who Hiccup was all along. Astrid certainly hadn't. Her mind had always viewed Hiccup as a blundering idiot who had no place among the Vikings. He didn't add anything to the community and was beyond incompetent. His gentle nature was also something that Astrid had never seen as a positive aspect. She had looked down on Hiccup for it and believed that Hiccup was weak because he couldn't be harsh and brutal. She knew now that Hiccup could never be brutal. It wasn't in his heart to be like that.

When Hiccup had killed the knight in the cave, she had seen Hiccup's entire body go stiff with shock. He didn't want to kill anyone, not dragons, and not even the knights who were trying to kill the dragons. Hiccup wasn't a killer. He never would be. Astrid could only hope he wouldn't be placed in a situation where he'd have to choose if between letting someone he cared about die and killing someone in order to save someone important to him.

"Astrid?" Fishlegs brought Astrid back to reality and she shook herself from her reverie completely.

"Go ahead," Astrid said and Fishlegs sat down on the steps. He looked at her for a minute before he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do, you, um, miss Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked. Astrid turned her head to look at the other Viking. Only Fishlegs could ask such a question without any ill intent behind it. Did she miss Hiccup? Well, she couldn't say that she didn't miss him. In fact, she missed him a lot. Hiccup was the kind of person that was a distinct presence to be around and was a gaping hole when gone.

"I miss him," Fishlegs said in a quiet voice, "Hiccup's the only person who won't make fun of me. He never has." Astrid looked a Fishlegs, his tone held something in it, a very distinct tone of respect and admiration. More importantly Fishleg's tone had a sense of worry that one could only have for a friend. Fishlegs cared about Hiccup. Astrid couldn't understand why it was so surprising that someone else could miss Hiccup when he wasn't around to make dry jokes and then suddenly show up to take all the trainees for group dragon riding. He knew how to throw spontaneity into everyone's lives in a way that only Hiccup could.

No one made Astrid laugh the way Hiccup did and it was rare that she did laugh. Until Hiccup came along, Astrid didn't laugh, except in scorn over something someone else had been doing. Astrid didn't like who she had been before Hiccup kidnapped her on his flight with Toothless. Since then, she'd started caring more about her fellow trainees. She was the one who hadn't cared. She was ready to abandon Hiccup to his death when all along he'd been willing to give his life to save every single one of them. Even though the entire village had treated him like dirt, Hiccup wanted to protect everyone, including Astrid, the person who had treated him the worst of anyone.

"Hiccup's a great person," Fishlegs continued, "I don't know w-what would have happened without him."

Astrid nodded silently at those words. Fishlegs did have the most astute way of saying things sometimes. "Yeah, he is an amazing person."

Fishleg's eyes focused intently on Astrid for a moment and then he spoke again, "He cares a lot about you, Astrid."

Astrid turned her head, "How do you know? He could just care about me about as much as he does the other trainees." Fishlegs shook his head.

"It's not the same," Fishlegs pulled his furs tighter around him, "I, um, I can tell. He's always making sure you're okay. I bet he's worried about you right now."

Astrid frowned, "He shouldn't be. He's the one who's in trouble."

Fishlegs pulled nervously at his furs, "That's just who Hiccup is, he cares more about everyone else than he does himself."

Astrid opened her mouth to argue and then shut it, finding that she couldn't, because she Fishlegs was right. Hiccup did care more about everyone else than he did himself. The day when he'd fought the Green Death, he had almost died in order to save a village that had been willing to throw him out at the first chance they got. She wouldn't say it to Fishlegs, but Astrid knew he was right.

"Hiccup's different," Astrid said instead, "I never know what to say to him because he's not like the other Vikings. I try to treat him that way but it doesn't work. Even now, he's still a whole other type of Viking. We've all changed to become dragon riders but Hiccup's still different. He thinks differently and he never wants to hurt anyone. Sometimes I think it'll destroy him if he had to…" She cut herself off, realizing that she'd begun to talk without realizing that Fishlegs was still sitting next to her.

"T-then you should say something to uh, Hiccup," Astrid looked over at Fishlegs. She fell silent as she thought about it. She really had wanted to say something to him, but for some reason, couldn't find it in herself to express her feelings. She wasn't any better at it than Hiccup was. He had only managed to kiss her once without Astrid initiating the kiss first. He hadn't talked about it since and he hadn't really said anything about what he felt about her. Not that she expected him to; Hiccup was really strange about those kinds of things.

The doors then banged open and Astrid nearly jumped off the steps. Fishlegs actually fell down them and they both looked up as Stoick strode out, a grim expression on his face. "The council has decided that we cannot wage war against the knights at the moment. Without any idea where Hiccup is," Stoick heaved out his chest and Astrid could hear the clear pain in his voice, "We aren't able to send anyone to rescue him."

Astrid couldn't believe her ears, "But this is Hiccup we're talking about! Hiccup! The one who saved our lives! Are we just going to let him stay captured?"

Stoick straightened, "We have other business to attend to. Hiccup is dead to us."

Astrid wouldn't accept that, she chased after Stoick as he strode off into the darkness, his eyes dark and haunted as the council's decision set in, "Chief, wait!" Astrid called and then stood in Stoick's path, her blue eyes flaring. "Hiccup's important to all of us. Why should it matter who these knights are? Your son was captured by them and you're just giving up?"

Stoick sighed and placed a large hand on her shoulder, "You were too young to remember when we fought the knights last, but all the older Vikings do. We lost more of our tribe to them than we ever had to dragon attacks," Stoick shook his head, "Hiccup is my son, but the tribe comes first." The Chief's stature almost seemed to sink. Stoick hadn't looked this defeated and broken since the day Hiccup fought the Green Death. Stoick had thought his son was dead that day. Until Toothless had opened his wings to reveal Hiccup's unconscious form, Stoick and the rest of the Vikings looked on in mourning of the boy who had been the laughing stock of the village had died to save them. The thought had struck deep into Astrid's body, piercing her heart in a way she never would've thought possible. For that moment, she truly had thought Hiccup was dead.

Right now she knew he wasn't, but the village couldn't fight back. "Why can't we fight them?"

"They outnumber us and they have a motive to kill all of us mercilessly," Stoick said in a cold tone. Astrid looked at Stoick, the Chief of the Vikings in Berk and she saw fear. Stone cold fear. For the first time, Astrid saw Stoick the Vast was afraid. If he was afraid, no one else would be able to face the knights.

"So we just abandon Hiccup?" Astrid asked in a subdued voice. Fishlegs had picked himself up and was standing a few feet behind the two as they talked. His face held for a moment as Stoick stood silently.

"I have no choice," Stoick said and then walked away towards his house. Astrid remained rooted on the spot. The village had abandoned Hiccup. They had abandoned the one person who saved their lives and not even Stoick, Hiccup's father, wanted to face the knights. The thought left a cold and empty feeling in her gut that burned.

She wouldn't abandon Hiccup, not now. Astrid turned on her heel and started towards the cliff. She would find Hiccup and bring him back. There was nothing anyone could do to stop her, nobody was going to, not even the knights.

* * *

**A/N- Sorry, the chapter's uneventful, but the next one should have some action in it. Thanks for reading!**

**Thanks for the following people for reviewing/alerting/favoriting this story:**

**KingofthePhantomDragon**

**Koolbanana**

**Hollyboo2001**

**This has been,**

**-Don "QuixoticQuest" ^_^**


	7. Distance Between the Stars

**Chapter 7**

**Distance Between the Stars**

_A/N- Hey! I am back. This chapter is probably shorter than the last one due to the fact that I'm up to my ears in college work. I'm only updating right now because I got another writing itch that I needed to scratch. _

_So! Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Once again the new names are listed at the end of the chapter. Thank you to all the old hats for all your support and suggestions. Seriously, your support helps me to figure out what needs adjusting in the story. _

_I know I haven't had too much fluff in this story and for that I apologize. I'm just following my writing instincts to wherever it may lead. That happens to mean that I'm not getting as much fluff in (yet, believe me, I'm just waiting for the right moments to pop that fluffy goodness in there). _

_That said, I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story and I sincerely appreciate the feedback that some of you have been giving me. _

_A special thanks to Genome Soldier for giving me ideas and encouragement throughout this story. _

_Toodles,_

_-Don ^_^_

_

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_

Since she was sneaking out, Astrid couldn't risk taking anyone other than Toothless, who couldn't fly anyways due to his injury, and she was pretty sure the other trainees would make too much noise anyways. She hated to leave them behind, but it seemed like the most practical choice.

Astrid pulled on the rope and waved to Toothless, who took a small jump and landed on the ship. It rocked for a moment and then settled on the water. Astrid was about to untie the ship from its anchor when she felt the ship thump back against the dock. She slowly lifted her eyes and met the fiercely determined ones of Fishlegs.

"Fishlegs," Astrid said, almost cursing herself for saying his name so loudly. "What are you doing here?"

Fishlegs frowned at her, a first for the normally nervous and timid boy, "Same as you, I'm going to rescue Hiccup." Fishleg's voice didn't shake like it usually did and Astrid could tell Fishlegs wasn't going to let go of the rope until she let him come. At this point she didn't have much of a choice.

"Okay, fine," Astrid agreed with clear irritation. "Are you by yourself?"

Fishlegs nodded, "I made sure none of the others saw me." Astrid had to hand it to the boy; he had managed to avoid detection by the all of Berk, even its abnormally nosey trainees. He then jumped onto the boat and set down a large sack.

"I brought more supplies, I-I figured we would w-would be gone a long time," Fishlegs looked down at the deck and Astrid smiled inwardly. Fishlegs was definitely brighter than he let on.

"Right," Astrid said with a curt nod and then moved to the front of the ship while Fishlegs finished untying the ship from the dock. He then moved to the front of the boat where Astrid was already starting to steer the ship.

"D-Do you know how to steer a ship?" Normally Astrid would have taken the question as an insult to her capabilities but she knew he was simply asking because it was important for their rescue attempt that one or both of them knew how to steer a ship.

"Hey!" Astrid and Fishlegs both looked up as two people suddenly dropped from the sky and landed on the boat: Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Astrid resisted the urge to throw the two overboard for being so loud.

"You should have waited, we had to sneak out, it took time," Ruffnut said.

"Only because you took too long packing," Tuffnut replied.

"Did not," Ruffnut retorted.

"Did too!"

_Thump._

"Miss me?" Snoutlout asked, but no one bothered to respond, except Ruffnut.

"No, we didn't," She then walked over to where her dragon was. Astrid felt lucky that she picked the largest ship, now it could hold three dragons, and the four trainees. Astrid couldn't say she was surprised that the other trainees managed to follow either she or Fishlegs. At this point it really didn't matter. They were coming along and she had to deal with it or risk being found out by the entire village of Berk, and not being able to rescue Hiccup.

"Guys, shut up," She snapped, and all eyes rested on her as silence fell. "Listen, we need to be quiet until we get far enough out to sea, got it?"

All the trainees nodded. "We understand, Astrid," Snoutlout said, "Anything I can do to help?"

Ruffnut nodded, "Yes, sit down and shut up." Astrid inwardly agreed with Ruffnut's response, even though Astrid herself didn't want to outwardly agree with it. She then turned and walked over to the front of the boat and began steering it away from the dock.

The night grew darker as the hours passed by. Stars littered the skies and Astrid pulled her blankets tighter around her. After three hours of steering, Snoulout had taken over the steering shift and was still there. Astrid shifted as the cold night air brushed her shoulders. She nearly jumped as she heard the soft clumping of boots and then the thump as Fishlegs sat down next to her.

Without her volition, Astrid began talking or rather thinking out loud, "It's really lonely out here," She cast a glance over at Toothless, who was staring out at the water, his golden yellow eyes scanning the waves with an emptiness that made sent a stab of pain through Astrid's heart. The dragon missed Hiccup more than anyone, maybe even more than Astrid did.

"I know you m-miss him, Astrid," Fishlegs said quietly, "Even if you don't admit it, we all know you do."

"Toothless misses him more than I do," Astrid said flatly. Fishlegs moved his knees up and wrapped his arms around them.

"Toothless misses Hiccup the same way I miss him," Fishlegs said slowly, "I-It isn't any stronger or deeper than the way you miss Hiccup."

Astrid averted her gaze to the deck, "You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

"Actually, Astrid, I do," Fishlegs said with a warm smile. Astrid blinked and then pondered what exactly prompted such confidence to emerge from the larger Viking, and more importantly, why he sounded like he was speaking from experience. Astrid waited for him to elaborate, but instead Fishlegs got up and crossed over to where his own blankets were and lay down.

Astrid lay back and continued to stare up at the sky, wondering where Hiccup was at the moment and if he was okay. If he was, she wondered if he blamed her for leaving him behind. Astrid turned on her side and bit her lip.

* * *

Hiccup rested the back of his head against the stone wall and shut his eyes. He wasn't entirely sure what the knight wanted from Hiccup but he knew that it had something to do with his loyalty to the Night Furies. It made sense in terms of the ambush back at the cave but at the same time it confused Hiccup because he had no clue why the knights hated the Night Furies in particular.

He winced as he shifted his leg. Even though the knights had treated some of his more serious injuries, they still left Hiccup in a considerable amount of pain. His burns, though not fatal, stung every time even a little bit of air touched it. Hiccup's thoughts blanked for a moment and then turned to a subject he'd been trying to avoid for the past few days: Astrid.

The Viking girl had left an irreversible impression on Hiccup since the first time he'd really seen her for who she was. Before the day he'd "kidnapped" her and taken her on a flight on Toothless, she had been nothing but cold to Hiccup and he had continued to watch her from afar, dazed. Even if he never talked to her like an equal and she belittled and demeaned him, Hiccup continued to look after her with amazement. He could never have hoped to match Astrid's skills as a Viking or her level of confidence just as a person. To her, he had been a nobody, a waste of space, and in some ways he still was. Hiccup continued to try to find a way that he was worth enough to be friends with Astrid, but every single time he couldn't find any.

He just couldn't see how a boy with no skills as a Viking, a person with only one leg, and someone who didn't even know how to hold his own in a fight, could measure up to someone like Astrid, who was all the things he wasn't and so much more.

"You want to prove yourself, don't you, Boy?" The knight had asked Hiccup, "So consider this: I'll show you how to become a warrior and you help us find the Night Furies. Then you will learn what it is that we want with them."

"You want to kill them, what's to know?" Hiccup had retorted.

"Think on it, and I shall return in the morning," The knight replied and then shut the wooden door behind him, leaving Hiccup in the dark with his thoughts as well as his confusion.

Hiccup sighed and rested his head on his knee before turning his head to look up at the small sliver of the sky he could see from out his window. There was a time that Hiccup had been an avid stargazer. He had studied the constellations and for a while he had liked reciting them. Hiccup lowered his head. He had gotten into stargazing because he learned his mother had liked it. Soon it only brought loneliness because all Hiccup could do was stare up at the sky and hope that his mother was up there watching over him. But he realized eventually that he would never know if she was watching over him. Just like he wouldn't know if Astrid even noticed he was gone right now.

Some part of him hoped she did, but the more practical side knew that Astrid never openly admitted to noticing things like whether or not a person was missing. Hiccup didn't blame her. It was part of her tough personality that Hiccup admired and respected. He couldn't focus on missions like she could since he always let his emotions get in his way.

"Thor, she must think I'm pathetic," Hiccup said aloud to the quiet room. He then turned his head and smiled up at the stars. At the very least, he hoped she had thought of him at least once. He could allow himself that somewhat selfish wish at least.

With that Hiccup drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Astrid!"

Astrid woke to the sound of roars in the sky and the boat rocking violently as the other trainees scrambled to mount their dragons.

She cast her gaze skywards and then let her jaw drop slightly, "What in Thor's name-?" A flock of dragons was descending from the sky and on their backs were knights dressed in blue surcoats and bore the insignia of a silver lion.

"Draw your weapons!" Astrid called, but the others were already armed. She then drew her axe and moved closer to Toothless. The Dragon was injured and couldn't defend himself as well. She would protect the Night Fury in Hiccup's place.

As the dragons descended from the sky, Astrid frowned and then felt surprise rise in her throat. They were the same Night Furies from the cave, only there were even more of them in addition to the wide assortment of other dragons that were now hovering a few feet above the water.

"Which one of you is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock?" The knight riding on Kuuwaay demanded.

"He is not among them, Korenth," Kuuwaay stated.

"He was captured?" Korenth questioned. "Then we must make haste." He waved to two of the dragons who then moved so one was in front of the ship and one was in the back.

"Those of you with dragons, mount them," Korenth stated, "Now, we haven't much time to waste!"

Astrid turned to face Korenth as the other trainees mounted their dragons and lifted off to hover near the ship. Astrid remained and turned her blue eyes on Korenth. "What's going on?"

The knight turned his sharply angled helmet to face Astrid, his hazel eyes barely seen through the narrow slits, "Hiccup has been captured by a group of knights known within their own ranks as The Order of the Dragon Slayers, but we know their true objective is completely different."

Astrid frowned, "Different objective? What other object could they have? They were trying to kill our dragons!"

Korenth's eyes narrowed in sympathy, "I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but their true goal wasn't to kill your dragons. It was a means to a different end," Korenth turned his head and the two dragons lifted the ship up with ease. "The recruitment of the best dragon riders and dragons loyal to their cause: the destruction of all other villages and dragons."

Astrid frowned, "Do they actually think they can accomplish that?"

"With hostages from every village, yes, they can, Hiccup makes the last one," Korenth stated and that was all it took for Astrid's blood to go completely cold.

**A/N- Another short one. Sorry! I'll try to have another one up later this week or this weekend. It depends on my workload. **

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**Thanks to the following people for reviewing/favoriting/alerting:**

NykyrianKiara

Paul

lynii


	8. Blood Brothers

**Chapter 8**

**Blood Brothers  
**

_A/N- I have returned! I'll keep my author's note brief since I don't think there's too much to be said that I haven't already mentioned in my past chapter. I'm just plugging these out as I come up with new ideas, so I can't say when my creative juices will give out for one reason or another. _

_I'm working on pushing the plot along so I hope this isn't boring anyone. _

_Thanks for reading!_

_-Don ^_^_

_

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_

After what seemed like hours of flight through complete darkness, the group of dragons and their riders finally landed on solid ground. Once there, the knights immediately began to make camp and it took Astrid only seconds to notice that they were in the middle of a small village that was surrounded by a towering wall built of stones. Flags bearing the same lion insignia as the knights' surcoats flew from each corner of the wall.

Astrid continued to look around as the knights built fires and as soon as all the knights were settled as well as the trainees, Korenth removed his helmet to reveal, to Astrid's shock, not an old man, but a young man the same age as the trainees. His sharp silvery eyes rested on Astrid for a moment before he turned his head. All physical attributes taken into account, Korenth looked a lot like Hiccup, only Korenth was slightly more muscular and had broader shoulders. He also stood two heads taller than Astrid and his face was well structured and was roguishly unshaven so that little hairs stood out all over the place.

"You all are wondering," Korenth said as the other knights passed around bowls of stew, "Why we brought you here."

Astrid frowned, "Yeah, we are, care to elaborate?" Ruffnut and Tuffnut exchanged glares as they tried to decide whose bowl had more stew than the other. Korenth's eyes fixated on Astrid.

"I was waiting for the right moment," He said calmly, not even flinching at the glare Astrid shot his way. "Given your attitude, you would have rushed right to your deaths without even knowing what hit you."

"Yeah right, we're Vikings, we could've taken those knights," Snoutlout said through a mouthful of stew. Korenth's eyes regarded Snoutlout with what looked like understanding but also maturity. Korenth was clearly a seasoned warrior. He hadn't once risen to any of the bait that any of the Vikings had sent his way and Korenth still had yet to even acknowledge Astrid's comment or her impatience that was boiling to the surface.

Korenth gave Snoutlout a small smile, "Yes, you may have killed a few of the knights. In fact, you might have killed a hundred of them before you realized that your entire mission was forfeit the minute you set foot on the enemy's soil."

Astrid scowled deeply, her brow creasing to the point where her headband slipped a little, "Forfeit? Our only mission was to rescue Hiccup."

"The knights of the Order of Dragon Slayers are no fools, they would have killed Hiccup the instant you set foot on their grounds just to prove a point. Then they would have taken the rest of you hostage without a second glance," Korenth took his tankard of beer and downed the pint in one gulp. "There isn't any reason why they should keep Hiccup alive if there are more hostages to be had."

Astrid continued to glare at Korenth, "So are you saying that we should just turn around? Why should we trust your word for it? You probably want to kill us all to take our dragons."

Korenth poured himself more beer and then turned his attention back to Astrid, "You show your emotions too openly. The knights would know right away that they could use you."

Astrid sniffed, "Use me? Ha, like they could. I'm not an idiot."

Korenth eyed her over the rim of his tankard, "Hmmm, but neither are they. Even I can tell that you care more for Hiccup's life than your own." Astrid opened her mouth and then shut it. She couldn't argue against that, could she? It was true after all. She did care a lot about Hiccup. But just how much? Fishlegs had said the same thing not too long ago and now Astrid was hearing the words from a complete stranger.

"What would you know?" Astrid retorted instead. She fell silent and then turned as Fishlegs spoke up this time.

"W-What are the creatures on y-your coats?" Fishlegs shifted uneasily as Korenth turned his attention onto the large Viking.

"Lions," Korenth said in a flat tone, "They are common to our lands and have been for generations. It was the lions that helped us to find the dragons for the first time," He set down his tankard and began to stoke the fire. "You see, long ago our people were constantly being attacked by our neighbors, the Order of the Dragons. They constantly swore to kill all the dragons in their land as well as ours. But one day we came across a pride of lions," Korenth's eyes lit with a new light. "Magnificent creatures they were. None of us had seen the like since the last of the dragons had been driven into hiding. We didn't want the dragons to leave, but we couldn't find them," Korenth then turned his head, "Gormath was one of the lions that helped us find the dragons again and protect them," As Korenth spoke, a large creature approached from behind the young man and nuzzled its golden face in Korenth's arm. The beast was indeed one of the most amazing things Astrid had seen since first flying on Toothless. Gormath had a soft brown mane and a reddish glow to his coat. His sharp yellow eyes rested on Astrid before turning his attention back to Korenth. Gormath was enormous as well. He could very well have taken Toothless on in a fight and won if given the opportunity. There was certainly no give in the lion's stance or eyes.

"Dragons help to keep the balance in the land and give the ground and soil a great amount of fertility. The leave of the dragons caused the crops to fail and we were without defense as well," Korenth looked gratefully over at Gormath, "Gormath brought his entire pride to help us and soon the dragons returned to the land," Korenth's eyes grew dark as he looked up at the sky, "But the Order of the Dragon Slayers still didn't give up. They wanted to kill any dragons that defied their way of life, a life of violence and tyranny. They wanted all other leaderships done away with. But without dragons, they couldn't fight us or anyone else," Astrid narrowed her eyes, suddenly getting the picture of where Korenth's story was going.

"They decided to rid the world of Night Furies as they were the most intelligent of all the dragons. Without them, dragons would become mindless beasts. So we had to protect them," Korenth tried to hide a grimace, "I believe by now you realize who killed his mother," Korenth looked over at Toothless, who was watching the trainees out of the corner of his eye. Astrid couldn't believe that the Order of the Dragon slayers could become so bent on taking over the rest of the lands and villages that they'd give up killing most dragons in order to do that.

"So Hiccup is just bait for that; to drive out all of Berk to rescue him?" Astrid's fists clenched of their own volition as she spoke through her teeth.

Korenth, "So it would seem," He turned to look at Astrid with sympathy in his eyes, "You could not have known that it was a trick. If the rest of Berk came with you, it would have been for nothing. At least you are alive now."

Astrid turned her head and stood up, "Yeah, but Hiccup's not," Her bitterness stung through the air and lingered long after she stalked off to where Toothless lay in the darkness. His yellow eyes stared up at the sky now.

"Hey Toothless," Astrid said as she sat down next to the small Night Fury. The dragon let out a moan of concern and Astrid shook her head.

"No, I'm sure Hiccup's alright," Astrid assured the dragon, who growled his disbelief. She knew that she shared the feeling, so she didn't argue it any further.

The real question was how she was going to rescue Hiccup when it was clear that any attempt would end in Hiccup's death. As much as her stubbornness refused to admit it, Astrid really didn't want to lose Hiccup. At this point it was even silly to deny it. So why couldn't she just admit it? What was wrong with liking Hiccup? The question hung in the air for a moment before Astrid sighed and began absently rubbing Toothless under his chin.

There really wasn't any reason why she should be ashamed of liking him. Hiccup wasn't a screw up anymore. He wasn't the laughing stock of the village, in fact he was the hero of the village. Hiccup was next in line to become Chief and he was the best dragon rider around. Everyone looked up to Hiccup, even the trainees. Astrid knew she did too. So why was it so difficult to admit that she might like him? It seemed ridiculous since she found it easier to impulsively kiss him than tell him she liked him.

"Of all the dumb things…" Astrid muttered to herself. "Why Hiccup?" The real question should have been "why not Hiccup?" but Astrid couldn't bring herself to understand why she had to like Hiccup of all people. Of all the people in the entire village, she had to fall for the one with thrill issues. All Vikings had them, but Hiccup was unique in that he tended to get burned, beaten, bruised, and sometimes, he lost limbs when he went off to do heroic things.

Astrid groaned and Toothless raised his brow at her. "What are you looking at?" The dragon growled and puffed smoke through his nostrils. _Great, now I'm being judged by a dragon and it's one that probably thought I was crazy anyways. _Astrid then realized how Hiccup-esc her response had been. "What are you looking at?" Was something that Hiccup would say to Toothless when the dragon gave his rider strange looks. Toothless was oddly outspoken for a dragon who never actually talked.

"Odin, I really do miss Hiccup," Astrid sighed and leaned back against the uninjured side of Toothless' belly. The dragon gave a soft purr.

"You're right, Toothless, we're both hopeless without Hiccup," Astrid said with a faint smile. The dragon growled indignantly. Astrid had to smile. "I guess we can both be in denial about it together." Toothless didn't respond because he was already snoring soundly.

* * *

Hiccup was abruptly woken up by two gauntleted hands dragging him to his feet and shoving him through the doorway of the prison tower's cell. He blinked as the light from the open bridge struck him. How long had he been in the dark for? He couldn't even tell what day it was or when he'd arrived. All of the events were blurred together.

"Stand up," One of the knights barked and roughly pulled Hiccup up straighter as the knights continued to drag the one legged Viking across the bridge until they reached the next set of doors, guarded by two more knights. The knights straightened and then opened the doors. Hiccup winced as the stump that had once been his leg hit the ground when the knights finally threw him face down onto the floor, he wrinkled his nose as the blood trickled from it. He then lifted his head to look up at the young man sitting on the large stone throne on the far side of the room. The throne was draped with thick purple cloth and the man sitting on the throne was dressed in the same purple as the knights; though the golden lining of his black cloak and the crown with the crest of a golden dragon was enough to tell Hiccup that this young man was truly the leader of the knights.

The leader's silvery eyes rested on Hiccup as the leader slowly rose. The knights knelt and didn't lift their heads as the leader crossed over to where Hiccup lay.

"So, you are Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, son of Stoick the Vast?" The leader asked in an imperious tone. "Well?" He demanded when Hiccup didn't repond.

"Answer the King's question!" One of the knights commanded and stood up briefly to kick Hiccup. The King held up his hand and the knight knelt once more before his leader.

"I do not need confirmation, I already know you are," The King's silvery eyes rested on Hiccup. The young King bore a strange resemblance to Hiccup himself, though the King was much younger. The real difference was in their eyes and in the clear difference between their confidence levels. Hiccup was much more timid than the King and the King also carried a sword with ease. Hiccup could hardly lift an axe until a little while ago when he began training. Still, with his thin build and leg, Hiccup couldn't lift much. The King had no problems walking around in full armor and carrying a double hilted sword. The youthful leader was also fairly muscled despite his small stature.

"I am King Hidaiyo of the Order of the Dragon Slayers. I believe you met General Klovar last night," The King gestured to the General, who Hiccup had missed seeing because he'd been shoved to the ground upon entering the chamber. The General inclined his head and then remained stiffly at attention behind the throne. Without the helmet Hiccup could see the short cropped white and gray of the General's hair and the burns that covered most of his face.

"We have much to talk about, Hiccup," King Hidaiyo continued, "Come," He gestured and the General waved his hand to dismiss the two knights, who scrambled to their feet and left the chamber. Klovar then crossed over to Hiccup and lifted him to his feet, though not roughly like the knights had. The King then walked up the steps to the throne and Klovar, supporting Hiccup, followed. Hidaiyo pulled back the curtain and revealed a passageway.

"I wish to show you the reason why I have brought you here, as I think you deserve to know," Hidaiyo stated and slowly started down the passageway until he reached a new door, this one was painted black and carved into the wood was the insignia of a dragon holding a spear in its jaw and a sword in its claws. Hidaiya pulled out a key and unlocked the door, pushing it open for Hiccup to look inside. He paused before his heart clenched.

The room was filled with weapons upon weapons used for dragon slaying and the worst weapon of all lay in the center of the room.

"Yes, it is fitting, isn't it? That the worst weapon we can use; isn't really a weapon at all?" Hidaiyo smiled as Hiccup's entire body cringed. In the center of the room were the remains of Hiccup's prosthetic leg.

"Now that we're clear on the circumstances," Hidaiyo said smoothly, "Let's talk business, shall we?" Hiccup felt his entire body fill with dread. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. The knights weren't trying to kill him. They had never intended to kill him at all. He had walked right into their trap and now he was helpless without his leg, a leg they could clearly fix.

"I'll ask you again, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock of Berk," Klovar said, "Will you help us find the Night Furies?"

Hiccup licked his lips nervously, "And what if I say 'no'?" The king turned to Klovar, who promptly dropped Hiccup to the ground. The impact sent pain shooting throughout Hiccup's entire body.

"We have ways of making sure you agree," Hidaiyo replied calmly, "You do want to live to see your village again, don't you?"

Hiccup looked the king in the eyes, "It's not my village if the dragons aren't there."

Klovar laughed hollowly, "Boy, you have no sense of reality. The dragons aren't your friends. They're mindless beasts. Without them, you'll have a peaceful life again. You already lost your leg to one of them, why risk losing more than that?"

Hiccup sighed, "If I abandoned Toothless, I'd lose more than that." Klovar and Hidaiyo exchanged looks and then returned their attention to Hiccup.

"I see you have the same naïve attitude as my older brother," Hidaiyo said with annoyance, "Dragons won't always stay loyal. One day they'll turn on you."

Klovar turned his head and Hiccup got a full view of the man's burns. Hiccup could also see that Klovar was blind in one eye. "I had a dragon like yours once," Klovar said, "But when we went to war with another land, my dragon became agitated and lost sight of who he was supposed to be protecting and attacking. He killed many of my friends and burned my face," The General squared his shoulders before continuing, "Then the worst thing of all was that he died because the other dragons couldn't calm him down and I was left not only without a dragon, but with one eye."

"The pain only gets worse, Hiccup," Hidaiyo said, "My own dragon was killed by a Night Fury that my brother brought home. That's what started the war. None of the other dragons could accept the Night Furies, so they took off. Now the Night Furies are the only ones left and they won't leave."

Hiccup wasn't sure what to say. He loved Toothless like a brother and wouldn't part with the Night Fury no matter what. He would take his chances and see just how far the King was willing to go to get Hiccup to join forces against the Night Furies.

"Between you and me, you've probably killed more of them than they have you," Hiccup said and earned a hilt in his gut for his comment from the General.

"I didn't think you'd give in so easily," Hidaiyo said calmly, "Though I hoped you would for your sake." Hiccup lifted his head slightly, unable to lift it much because his entire gut was on fire from being hit. "Will you reconsider?"

"I'm a Viking, we have stubbornness issues," Hiccup said, before slumping to the ground further as he was now unable to hold himself up any longer. Klovar turned to Hidaiyo and the King nodded.

"I'm sorry, Hiccup, I have no choice then," The King turned on his heel and left, closing the door just as the General was drawing his sword.

* * *

**A/N- Heh, heh, cliff hanger. Don't worry, I'll have another update before the week is over, or at least by the end of the weekend. Pray to Thor that I'm not going to have more work this week if you want an update (or you can review, that works too). **

**Thanks to the following people for their continued support:**

**Fasal**

**Hollyboo2001**

**Genome Soldier**

**Yapay the Master Elite**

**Keyon Trials**

**Future Aviator**

**Isaac**

**Paul**

**ScarsOfTime**

**Paosheep**

**(I'm listing the most recent reviewers, so if I missed you, I'm sorry). Thank you to everyone who has given support, you rock! **


	9. Fire in the Sky

**Chapter 9**

**Fire in the Sky**

_A/N- Hi! So I'm really happy that many of you have come out to give me feedback. It really helps me out (more than you know- I'm talking about giving my comments on the actual content of the work). I do read your comments carefully, so the more I get, the better idea I have of what needs work. _

_So keep the feedback coming! =) _

_Best,_

_-Don ^_^_

_

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All alone in a sleepless night  
Passing time with a runaway moon  
Talking to myself  
Wishing I was somewhere else  
It's been too long since I held you girl  
And twice a thousand miles  
But my heart won't beat alone  
I need the love I left behind

Hold back the dawn a while  
Things will all work out  
Don't let this dream die

There's a fire in the sky  
It's like the light in your eyes  
Thinking of you  
And I won't give up 'til you're in my arms  
Never give up 'til what's lost is found  
Won't give up on your sweet sweet love again

Now the night is dark with diamonds  
And I'm standing inside the rain  
Giving up your love  
Was the worst mistake I made  
There's a sound I hear in the distance  
Seems it's calling out my name  
Well, I'll pay most any price  
Just hope I'm not too late

Turn back the clock a while  
Things will all work out  
That's what the dream is all about

There's a fire in the sky  
Like the light in your eyes  
Oh, it's true  
That I won't give up 'til you're in my arms  
Never give up 'til what's lost is found  
Won't give up on your sweet sweet love

Turn back the clock a while  
Things will all work out  
That's what the dream is all about  
I see a fire in the sky  
Just like the light in your eyes  
Thinking of you  
And I won't give up 'til you're in my arms  
Never give up 'til what's lost is found  
Won't give up on your sweet, sweet love.

-"Fire in the Sky" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

* * *

Astrid woke with a start to the sound of chatter and commotion around the campsite. Thinking that there was an attack, she reached for her axe but found that Toothless was calmly watching the commotion and lowered the weapon. If Toothless wasn't in attack mode then there wasn't anything to worry about. Still, she stood up, hefting her axe and slinging it across her shoulder before casting her gaze around the camp.

All the knights were packing up the camp and on the shoreline were several rafts. Astrid's eyes narrowed and she looked up as Korenth crossed over to her.

"What's going on?" Astrid asked. Korenth placed a gauntleted hand on the pommel of his sword. His silver eyes regarded her with an expression that Astrid couldn't quite read and she was vaguely reminded of Hiccup when Korenth's hair blew backward as a gust of wind passed through the camp.

"We're going to travel down the river to sneak into the Order's castle from behind," Korenth stated. Astrid frowned.

"Is that even possible?" She questioned. This whole situation was starting to look more and more hopeless by the minute. From the sound of things, there wasn't any direct way to rescue Hiccup and any way involved more risks than Astrid knew the other trainees were able or willing to handle. Except for Fishlegs, who Astrid knew cared a lot about Hiccup. The others wouldn't go as far to save Hiccup, it just wasn't in their natures. They weren't obligated to risk their lives, so Astrid didn't blame them.

"Your friends have agreed to come. I asked them," Korenth said, as if he'd sensed her thoughts.

"They're going regret it," She said under her breath. A smile tugged across Korenth's face.

"I'm not so sure about that," He looked over at the other trainees. "Hiccup seems to be more important to them than they're willing to let on, but I can see that he's equally important to all of you." He gave her a knowing look on the word 'you' and Astrid averted her gaze in order to hide the red that was creeping across her cheeks. Korenth smiled silently to himself before turning around and heading back the center of the camp.

"Pack up, we're leaving in ten minutes," Korenth then continued away as Toothless lifted his head to look over at Astrid, who was still blushing furiously. Just how pathetic was she? Korenth hadn't even said anything specific and she was blushing like a love-struck teenager? Astrid couldn't believe how much confusion Hiccup of all people had thrown her into. He was and remained to be a simple minded guy with little going for him except that he was crazy. His crazy attitude earned him a heroic stature in Berk and lost him his leg. _The antics involved_, Astrid thought with a wry smile, _were nothing short of borderline insanity._

But did her heart care? No. It went on thumping as if it wanted the entire world to hear that she was love-struck over Hiccup Horrendous Haddock. _Thor. _Astrid thought to herself. Hiccup never acted like a hero. Even after he came back, he was still nervous and timid; especially around Astrid.

Astrid picked up her bags and began packing up her bedroll as Toothless stretched and yawned like a cat waking up from its nap. His big yellow eyes rested on Astrid and he cocked his head to the side. "No, Toothless, I don't have a any fish." The dragon gave a disapproving growl. "Yeah, well, if you'd thought about hunting before Korenth woke us up you wouldn't be hungry." Toothless let out a clearly affronted snort of smoke and then trudged off in the direction of the other trainees in hopes of shaking them down for fish.

Astrid took a deep breath before walking slowly over to where the other trainees were gathered. Ruffnut took one look at the lingering red spots on Astrid's cheeks and raised her eyebrow but gave Astrid a look that said 'I'm going to ask about that later.' Astrid palmed her face before turning to look over at Fishlegs, who was speaking enthusiastically about something. Curious, Astrid crossed over and began to catch the dialogue as she approached. It didn't take Astrid long to figure out that Fishlegs was telling the story of Hiccup's fight with the Green Death and from the looks on the faces of the knights, who weren't wearing helmets; they were as engaged in the story as Fishlegs was.

"Then he takes t-to the sky, on Toothless, the Green Death's breathing fire and we c-couldn't see anything, I-I was s-scared," He shook his head fervently as though trying to rid himself of the image, "Then we saw blue thunder and then Hiccup was flying down and Toothless was s-shooting fire into the Green Death's mouth. We saw them c-crash a-and there were flames e-everywhere," Fishlegs glanced sideways as he noticed Astrid had come to stand behind the circle of knights listening to the story. Her blue eyes watched him as he picked up his tale once more, "Then we s-saw Toothless on the g-ground and he was alone, w-we thought…" Fishlegs chanced another glance at Astrid, whose eyes were unreadable.

"W-We thought he was dead w-when S-Stoick collapsed to his k-knees," Fishlegs lowered his head for a moment and then finished, "But then Toothless opened his wings a-and there Hiccup was. H-he had l-lost his leg, but he was alive," Fishlegs noticed Astrid's face had contorted when he'd mentioned Hiccup's leg. It was the same leg that had gotten Hiccup captured. It was the same leg that had crippled Hiccup and prevented him from leading a normal life. He couldn't do anything anymore without worrying about how his leg would impede his mobility or how much pain he was in over it. Even if Hiccup himself never talked about the leg, Astrid knew he was in constant pain. She could see it in his eyes and in the way he constantly joked about how useless his leg was. His dry wit might have fooled most of Berk but it hadn't fooled Astrid Hofferson.

Fishlegs had done the story justice. She knew that most of the retellings avoided mentioning Hiccup's leg for one reason or another. But she knew it was because the story sounded better without mentioning the price the heroics had come at. No one wanted to know the price, they just wanted to retell the story and live their lives in comfort knowing that Hiccup had saved them.

No one had really thought about how close Hiccup had been to dying. If an hour had passed between when Stoick had found Toothless and Hiccup, the boy might have died. Then there would be no celebrations and Stoick would have remained grim. Astrid too would have been changed. She had just begun to understand who Hiccup really was. _To lose that_…Astrid averted her eyes, this time to hide the fact that she was biting her lip and the tear that had escaped her eye. She wiped it away with her sleeve and then shifted.

She didn't want Hiccup to die. No, she needed him to be alive, he had to be. The feeling she'd had when she'd seen Stoick on the ground, mourning over the loss of Hiccup, it had nearly crushed all the breath from her lungs. She'd pushed her way through the crowd and only stopped when the truth hit her; Hiccup wasn't there. Stoick was on the ground because Hiccup wouldn't ever talk back to his father in the same dry humored tone he had been using since he could talk. As the feeling washed over her, Toothless had lifted his wings and revealed Hiccup's unconscious; but still living form. Relief then filled her and she couldn't even speak.

Where did all of those feelings go? Astrid rested her head on her hand and dug her elbow deeper into her leg. "Astrid?" Fishlegs' voice broke her from the nightmarish reverie and she gripped her axe, turning her knuckles white. "A-are you okay?"

"Yeah," She replied in an emotionless tone. If just the thought of Hiccup dying had scared her this much, how much longer would it be before she cracked completely? Astrid shook the thought from her mind. She couldn't let herself break down, she just couldn't.

"Alright, time to go," Korenth barked and all the knights hauled the packs onto the rafts and the dragons slowly boarded the Viking ship, which was being steered by several of the knights. Astrid boarded the raft with Korenth, Fishlegs and several other knights. She walked over the edge of the raft and sat down as the wooden craft pushed away from the shore. She drew a long breath before pulling her knees up to her chest so she could rest her chin on it. Astrid was grateful that Fishlegs had respected her need to be alone and was giving her as much space as the raft would allow.

It was strange to think that just days earlier Astrid was still on Berk and didn't really have to worry about anything except for her training. Now she not only had to worry about how much her training would pay off, but she was worried about the other trainees; worried about whether or not they'd all make it out of this mess alive. A mess they wouldn't even be in if she had insisted on going after Hiccup in the first place.

It irritated her to no end that she couldn't stand leaving Hiccup alone. He could handle himself, prosthetic leg or not. Still, she worried that he was having more trouble than he let on. Hiccup was certainly good at hiding his pain when he wanted to. Astrid wondered if Hiccup actually trusted anyone in the village. Despite that he was the most pure hearted of anyone in Berk, she was sure that somewhere deep inside Hiccup's abundant heart, his core was shaken irreversibly. After all, he had been abandoned by his father and the entire village and tormented by his lack of fighting skills and brutality. That same heart was the very thing that made Hiccup the wonderful person that he was; was the reason that he had to lose a leg to prove that his heart was a gift and not a flaw.

Nobody had understood that until now, that Hiccup had the best understanding of the situation with the dragons because of his heart; not Stoick, not the trainees, and not even Astrid had accepted it until their flight on Toothless. Not until he stated "Yes," to her question as to whether or not he'd risk everything to protect Toothless, did Astrid understand that Hiccup's true strength wasn't and would never be, physical. He had shown Astrid a new world that she still had yet to see with new eyes. She had stopped being cruel and stone cold towards everyone around her, especially Hiccup. She couldn't even see the shy and pathetic boy she'd always thought he was. Only now did she see how wrong she was. _I'm the one who's pathetic, _Astrid chided herself, _Hiccup always knew what was right. But I was always a complete ass to him. _

Night fell about the rafts as they drifted down the river. Astrid hadn't moved from her spot and didn't really feel the need to. She'd given up trying to convince herself that she deserved to be with Hiccup after she'd treated him so badly. Hiccup would probably forgive her despite that and he most likely had done so already. That was the kind of person Hiccup was. He was honest, gentle, and soft hearted to a fault. He wouldn't ever blame anyone for anything. It wasn't in his nature to cast blame or to hate anyone. That was why Astrid knew she couldn't let him forgive her. He would do it willingly and that killed her. He didn't deserve to willingly forgive someone who should have been on his side from the beginning.

_Whump. _Astrid's hand went to her axe and she was immediately on her feet as something hit the raft. It didn't take long to figure out where the source of the noise was. Arrows began to hail from the sky and then Astrid's eyes went to the tree tops as dozens of figures dressed in loose black clothing that obscured their entire bodies and only left their eyes; along with equally dark chest plates and armguards, dropped from the sky, drawing scimitars. The figures set about attacking the knights and Astrid's head whipped around as she heard a splash. The body of one of the figures was floating down the river, dark blood trickling from a head wound. Astrid averted her gaze and then rolled to the side as a figure tried to slice her head in half. She rolled to her feet and slashed out at the figure, who nimbly leapt aside and slashed her axe wielding arm.

Astrid let out a cry and Fishlegs punched his opponent into the river before shouting, "Astrid!" He then ran into another armored figure and began fighting but it was clear that Astrid was on her own as more figures dropped from the trees.

A roar ripped through the air as the form of a magnificent lilac colored dragon rose into full view in the sky. Its massive wings were lined with a golden hue and its vibrant emerald green eyes pierced through Astrid's entire body. The dragon was longer and built for doing tricks in the air. Its limbs were well muscled but aerodynamic. Its nose was angled but the rest of the head was round with whisker type strands hanging from its nostrils. The dragon pulled back its head and let loose a green ball of fire that set all the trees aflame. Astrid ducked to the side as a branch smashed through one of the rafts, sending its occupants into the water.

Astrid's eyes then went to the rider on the dragon's back. Whoever it was; was completely comfortable riding the crazed dragon as it spiraled in a nose dive before shooting a perfect jet of green flame into another raft. Then the dragon pulled up flawlessly, rolling as though the air was flat ground for its acrobatics. She blinked for a second and then without warning a sharp pain in her back sent her into the wood of the raft. Blood trickled down her skin and she bit back a cry.

The lilac dragon then dove again and the rider leapt from the back onto the raft and deftly knocked Astrid's attacker into the water. Two hands hauled Astrid to her feet and Astrid's eyes stared blankly at the figure. The dragon soared overhead, still shooting flames all over the place. Another figure tried to attack Astrid but the rider once again punched the figure out of the way.

Fishlegs let out a yell and Astrid turned to see the dragon shooting fire onto the ship with their dragons. Korenth jumped from raft to raft, rushing towards the burning ship. Astrid lifted her axe but something struck her in her shoulder and the cracking noise told her that her arm had just popped out of its socket. It dangled uselessly now at her side and Astrid tried using her other hand as the rider slashed at the other figures; who were now stopping and staring at the rider, as if in disbelief. Astrid took a glance at the rider and then a cracking noise jerked her head up as a tree branch smashed into the end of the raft, sending Astrid flying into the water.

"Astrid!" A voice called but at this point Astrid couldn't make out who it was above the sound of the water and the shouts. Slowly Astrid's vision went out of focus and then blackness took her just as two firm hands grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the cold water.

Almost as quickly, the hands let go and Astrid's unconscious form struck the rocks of the river before floating rapidly towards the waterfall.

**Chapter revised as of 8/4/10. **

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_**A/N- Thanks for reading! **_

_**A special thanks to the following users for favoriting/alerting/reviewing this story:**_

**BlackRoseDraco**

**Min23**

**Visitor**

_**And to Zherichchibipoet for adding me to both your author alert list and favorite authors list. =) I don't know if you're reading this story, but thank you. =) **_


	10. Eternal Heart

**Chapter 10**

**Eternal Heart**

_A/N- Hello! I'm sorry for taking so long to update this story. As some of you may already have known, I began taking art classes Monday-Friday from 9am to 4:30PM for 3 weeks, then I had a lot of family stuff to take care of, I had other stories to update, and then I was wrapped up in a self inflicted (and still ongoing) writing challenge here on FFN. So that's why I took so long to update this story. Plus I had some writer's block as to how to format this chapter. I knew what I wanted to write, but I wasn't sure how to write it. Once I figured it out, I rapped out this here chapter. I tried to put more material in since it's been a while since my last update. I also revised and reloaded chapter 9. The changes were only made at the end (as per a suggestion from a reader to revise the ending). Thanks for the editing suggestion! _

_I'm sort of doing some borrowing in terms of ideas here, so I'll credit the film that inspired this chapter._

_DISCLAIMER: Credits to Dragon Heart, a film by Rob Cohen and produced by Universal Studios. I do not own any of the concepts and I do not own HTTYD or its characters or concepts. _

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited this fic (as always, I will list your names at the end of this chapter)._

_Oh and one more thing, I am taking requests for HTTYD one-shots for my writing challenge- read the previous one shots (labeled under "PART OF THE 20 BY 20 CHALLENGE" in their descriptions) for details on the kinds of shots I am writing for the challenge. All requests must be submitted before August 21__st__. _

_Enjoy!_

_-Don ^_^_

_

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_

A searing pain in her arm woke Astrid up in time to see that she was rapidly approaching the waterfall at the river's end. She jerked her head around to look for anything to grab on to, a rock, a fallen tree branch, some roots on the edge of the river bank, but she didn't see anything within reach. She pushed hard against the current, but with only one good arm, she could only move slightly before being pushed back into the river's one way course. Now she knew how Hiccup felt all the time. He would have drowned if he was in her situation and Astrid wasn't entirely sure if she wouldn't drown at the moment.

The current swerved and Astrid's body slammed into a rock, temporarily stalling her movement downstream. _Well, I asked for something to grab onto,_ Astrid thought with a grimace. _I really need to be more specific about what I wish for. _

A second later Astrid's gaze went up as another body bumped into hers and pushed her from her rock. It was the body of a dead armored warrior and Astrid looked up as the distant face of Fishlegs stared in helpless horror as Astrid neared the waterfall.

She closed her eyes and then felt something hit her right before she went over the waterfall.

* * *

Fishlegs let out a roar of pain as he smashed two warriors' heads together and then cast them into the water. He was now an enraged beast on a rampage. _These warriors, no, these monsters_, he amended in his mind, _Killed two of my friends. _Fishlegs was a timid boy at heart despite his size and natural strength. He didn't have the skills like Astrid did, or the guts like Ruffnut did, he wasn't as popular with girls as Tuffnut managed to be, and he certainly wasn't half as strong willed as Hiccup was. All the other Vikings seemed to be leaving Fishlegs behind in one way or another. He growled and then smashed his fist through the armor of another warrior, causing his knuckles to bleed, but he was beyond caring.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut were engaged in an intense fight with five warriors and Ruff let out a yelp as one of the warriors slashed her arm. Fishlegs saw red at that moment and smashed his way across the rafts to where Ruffnut was and took her opponent by the throat and before either twin could say anything, a sickening crunch was heard.

The body dropped to the raft and Fishlegs blinked twice before he noticed that everyone was looking at him with shock and fear in their eyes. He had just killed someone with his bare hands. Fishlegs looked over in horror at Ruffnut, who was wearing an expression halfway between confusion and shock. She probably thought he was a monster now. Fishlegs averted his eyes and then waded through the water and took off at a run. He couldn't face his friends now.

Ruffnut watched blankly as Fishlegs retreated into the woods for a few minutes before she realized that he was really running away. Ruff shook herself from her state of shock and then sheathed the sword she carried with her and leapt the gap between the raft and land, landing cleanly on her feet. She gave a curt nod to her brother, who waved a hand to indicate he understood. Neither had the time nor words to voice their opinions or feeling about what they'd just seen.

Ruffnut ran as fast as her lanky legs could carry her. She wasn't even sure why she had to be the one to go after Fishlegs, but something told her she had to. Something in the back of her mind urged her to run after him and to make sure he didn't get too far from where his friends were at the moment.

She sharply sucked in her breath as she felt the sting of the gash on her arm. The air wasn't helping it any and she was sure that letting it continue to bleed wasn't the best of ideas either.

Ruff staggered and then tripped over a root in her brief distraction and a second of putting pressure on her ankle told her that it was either twisted, sprained or broken. She grunted and put out her hands to support her and she wobbled to her feet for a second before her ankle gave out, causing her to collapse into an undignified heap. Ruffnut was beyond angry. She was defeated by her ankle of all things and she hated herself for it. It was pathetic and stupid. She had to find Fishlegs for reasons unknown to her and it was driving her nuts.

_Maybe mom should have named me Ruffnuts, _Ruff thought bitterly and then attempted once more to stand up, but something touched her ankle and the pain sent her back down.

"It's probably broken, you shouldn't stand on that," Ruffnut slowly raised her gaze to look on the large form of Fishlegs. He was currently focused on her ankle, but it was clear from his expression that he'd like nothing better than to get up and keep running. But he hadn't. For the life of her, Ruffnut couldn't figure out why someone like Fishlegs cared about her. Aside from the fact that they were both Viking trainees, they weren't exactly close, or if they had been, they certainly weren't anymore.

He reached into the small pack attached to his belt and pulled out a bandage roll and began to wrap it around her ankle. It had never occurred to Ruffnut that Fishlegs' hands might be soft, if not extremely gentle. The texture of his hands were a rough contrast to his tender touch. She didn't even notice when he finished wrapping her leg, because he said her name more forcefully the second time.

"Ruff," Fishlegs said and she looked at him. "Can you stand?" Ruff felt her embarrassment at her situation resurface as Fishlegs held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"Of course I can," Ruffnut said and pushed herself up, but her ankle caused her to sway briefly before Fishlegs caught her.

"If you keep putting pressure on it, t-the ankle m-might not h-heal properly." Fishlegs said, his usual stammer had now returned and Ruffnut felt a strange sense of relief at the sound. It was a nice change to the confident voice he'd used before. Though, she had to admit, the confident Fishlegs was interesting. Ruffnut shook the thought from her head. _I think I'm losing my mind. _

With her arm around Fishlegs' shoulders, Ruffnut hopped on one leg back towards the direction of the rafts.

"I-I could, you k-know…" Fishlegs stammered but Ruffnut gave him a sharp glare.

"Uh-uh, no way, I am not letting you carry me," Ruffnut said and continued her hop as Fishlegs supported her. When he continued to give her worried glances, Ruffnut sighed and then turned abruptly on him.

"What? Why do you keep looking at me like that? I can handle myself, okay?" She snapped and sucked in a deep breath, waiting for what she was sure would be a quick apology from Fishlegs.

But it never came. Instead she heard a soft voice grace her ears, "I know."

Ruffnut turned around and stared blankly at Fishlegs. For the first time she saw a look on his face that she never thought was possible. Fishlegs was a burly boy with a book of random facts for a brain. He managed to fight when he was told to, but for the most part he wasn't any more courageous than Tuffnut was, if not less than her annoying twin. She never guessed that behind his fact rattling and random sense of fighting, there was a passionate boy.

Ruff knew the look that he had on his face. It was the same one that she'd seen on Hiccup's face when he looked at Astrid. Of course the other blonde had never noticed how many times Hiccup had spent minutes just staring at her or admiring her from afar with eyes glowing with one-sided affection. Of course, Ruffnut had noticed that Hiccup had that look long ago.

She only had to take one look at Hiccup to know that he was more than he seemed to be or act. He was an idiotic screw-up on the surface, but she could tell from his eyes that he wasn't like that underneath.

It seemed that Fishlegs was the same. "You know?" Ruffnut questioned in surprise.

"Of course I know. I've known you for a long time, Ruff, and I've always known that you can handle yourself," The confident voice was back and Ruff was having a hard time taking it in without losing her nerve. She wasn't sure how to handle this new version of Fishlegs.

Ruff scowled, "So what are you saying? That I should ask for help?" Fishlegs shook his head.

"No, but it wouldn't hurt you to depend on your friends a little more," He stopped walking and forced Ruff to stop as well. For a few minutes Ruffnut stared fixatedly at the ground and neither one of them spoke.

"You like Hiccup, don't you?" Ruffnut looked up abruptly and her voice caught in her throat at the understanding look Fishlegs was giving her. It wasn't jealous or hurt and he certainly didn't sound angry. Some part of Ruffnut wished he was because the look he had was more painful in that it wasn't filled with blame.

"I like him," Ruffnut stated and wished at that moment she could disappear. She chanced a look at Fishlegs and saw that his expression had changed to one of sadness and he gave her a wistful smile.

"I know how you feel," He said and then effortlessly lifted Ruffnut's legs up so she didn't have to hop any more, once she was secured in his arms, he began walking in silence towards the river. She didn't bother to complain or argue this time.

* * *

The drop over the fall was brief but the impact sent water gushing into Astrid's face and into her lungs until she felt her throat burn. She grimaced her way through the entire plunge and once more she found herself slipping into unconsciousness. Then she looked up to see that she was heading straight for a jagged rock at the bottom of the tiny lake. She blinked and squeezed her eyes shut as she could feel that she couldn't stop herself from sinking.

Something then grabbed her waist and she hit her head on something hard, but it wasn't a rock. Her eyes opened just as she and what she now saw was a person hit the rock. Her body shook violently but it only stunned her for a second. The figure, whoever it was, had struck the rock's sharp surface head first and then his body was slammed against it as a result of Astrid's weight. She let out a yell, which only came out as bubbles and then pumped her way towards the lake's floor where the figure had fallen. Like the other armored warriors, this one's face was covered by a mask. Astrid couldn't care less at the moment since she knew that whoever this warrior was, he or she had saved Astrid's life. That alone said something for the warrior's sense of morale. She sucked in a breath as she used her single arm to lift the warrior, who was surprisingly light in spite of the fact that he was wearing armor. She took a moment to rip her belt from her waist and then started swimming again.

She coughed as her throat and lungs burned from lack of oxygen. Any second her strength would ebb and she would die from blood loss or drown, whichever came first. Astrid was determined to at least make it to the surface before either one happened. She pumped her legs and then let out a raspy cough and bubbles came out of her mouth. With a last burst of strength, Astrid kicked through the water and splashed through the surface, gasping and breathing in the air for what seemed like the first time in months.

She dragged the limp form of the warrior to the edge of the small lake and then clambered onto the grass before pulling the warrior up after her. She took a second to catch her breath before turning to look sideways at the warrior lying on the grass. Was this warrior the same one who had tried to pull her from the water before?

Astrid grasped her injured arm and then got up to walk over to where the warrior lay. She crouched down next to him and eye balled the dark stain that was spreading from the warrior's masked head and then the trail of red that was slowly leaking onto the grass underneath the warrior. Astrid flicked her braid back and then carefully removed the black cloth wrap that served as the warrior's mask.

It only took her a second before she jumped backwards impulsively at the face she was looking at. "It can't be…"

"Astrid!"

Astrid didn't notice that Fishlegs and Tuffnut had caught up with her until they had reached her side. "Astrid, a-are you okay?" Fishlegs questioned and then cut himself off when he noticed Astrid's expression. He looked from Astrid and to the warrior and then his own face paled. It was Hiccup.

"What happened?" Tuffnut demanded, "I don't get it, why are you two acting so weird?"

"You're the one who's weird, Tuff," Ruffnut's voice said from behind. She was riding on the back of a Night Fury and landed right next to her brother, who had jumped in surprise at her sudden arrival. "Someone you know is lying on the ground bleeding and you're asking why they're acting weird?"

"I'm not weird, Weirdo!"

"Moron, can't you come up with a better comeback?"

"Has anyone bothered to check if he's still breathing?" All eyes turned to Korenth, who hopped off the back of another Night Fury and was now standing with his arms folded across his chest.

Astrid leaned over and pressed her fingers against Hiccup's wrist. "He's alive," She breathed, though her voice was barely audible at this point.

"Stand aside," Two broad black wings brushed the trainees aside with ease and then the large head of Kuwaay leaned down and touched his nose to Hiccup's chest. "He is dying."

Astrid shook her head, "That can't be true!" For the first time in her life, Astrid let her feelings of panic show. Not that anyone among the trainees didn't know at this point that she and Astrid liked each other and probably wouldn't admit that they might even love one another, but Astrid felt a mix of embarrassment and shame at her sudden outburst. It was the most useless thing she could have said and she averted her eyes. She was sure that the other trainees were staring at her now. Why was she being uncharacteristically weak now?

"I believe now it is about time that I told you the truth," Kuwaay continued. Astrid turned her head up to look into the dragon's brilliant greenish yellow eyes. Korenth's brow furrowed.

"Truth?"

"There is a reason why the warriors and their king are after the Night Furies and it isn't what you think it is," Kuwaay said. All eyes were now focused on the largest Night Fury, including the other Night Furies. Toothless was giving his father a strangely inquiring look. No one spoke as the Night Fury straightened and lifted his head so he could look out at the burning trees surrounding the river.

"The King doesn't want us dead," Kuwaay said plainly. "The very thought would ruin his initial plan."

Korenth scowled even more deeply, "Which is what?"

"To become immortal," Kuwaay replied with a slight growl at the end. Korenth clamped his mouth shut for a moment as he mulled over what the dragon had just said.

"Become immortal? Isn't that impossible, even for a dragon?" Astrid put in. Kuwaay turned his head to look at the girl, taking in the fear in her eyes and the fact that she was grasping Hiccup's limp hand in hers.

"One can live longer but one can never become truly immortal. For if your soul dies, so do you," Kuwaay stated with a frown of his own. "Many humans foolishly believe that it is possible to live forever. But somewhere along the line the things that they want to live to see die out and they die as a result. Once you have nothing more to live for, living forever seems more of a curse than a gift. Even dragons, who live for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, do not live forever."

"Then why does the king think you can help him do that?" Everyone turned to look over to the speaker. Ruffnut's eyes hardened as she stared Kuwaay down, "Why does he think that?" She repeated more harshly this time. Fishlegs gave her a sympathetic look. Ruffnut had lost her father at a young age and the idea of never having to see someone die, must have caused her to feel sad that she never got the chance. Tuffnut even looked disturbed now, his eyes fixated on the muddy ground.

"Because only Night Furies have the gift of eternal heart," Kuwaay said, gesturing his wing to indicate to his fellow Furies, who all looked down at the ground or simply stared at the humans with distant expressions.

"Meaning what?" Tuffnut questioned, glancing sidelong at his sister, who was frowning deeply as she glared at a random spot on the grass. He knew that she liked Hiccup, but out of respect for the fact that he knew that Hiccup liked Astrid, he neglected to make fun of her on this one topic. Now that Hiccup was lying on the ground, dying, Tuffnut couldn't find anything comforting to say. Comfort wasn't really his forte, so he decided to vent his anger out on Kuwaay for his vague statements.

"I've heard myths about that," Fishlegs said before anyone could speak. Tuffnut and Ruffnut both turned to look over at Fishlegs now. The confidence was back in his voice. It was the tone he used when he was rattling out facts about dragons. Clearly he would be the one to know about this particular mystery. "Night Furies are supposedly the only dragons that have the ability to share their hearts with humans."

"Share their hearts?" Tuffnut wrinkled his nose. "You mean like spill secrets of love or something?"

Fishlegs shook his head, "They can take half of their hearts and give them to a human who is dying. That heart will save the human and as long as the dragon lives, so will the human."

"No wonder the king wants that," Tuffnut said, "With half a dragon's heart, he could live for thousands of years."

Ruffnut still remained stonily silent and then she looked over at Kuwaay, "But it's not that simple, is it?" Astrid looked carefully at the other female trainee and for the first time it occurred to Astrid that Ruffnut might like Hiccup as well. The questions Ruffnut was asking were more intuitive than Astrid was used to hearing from the other blonde.

Kuwaay gave a short incline of his head, the dragon version of a nod, "Nothing is ever simple when it comes to the heart. The dragon and human will share everything once half the dragon's heart is placed in the human's body. If the dragon is hurt, so is the human, if the dragon is sick, so is the human and if the dragon feels emotional pain, so does the human. Nothing is separate from that moment on. Even some thoughts are shared between them and even if the human wants to have a normal lifespan, he or she couldn't. Unless both the dragon and human want to die, they will live for a long time."

"So the king wouldn't be able to live forever even if he wanted to," Korenth said coldly. Kuwaay nodded.

"Precisely," Kuwaay lifted his head and sniffed the air, his nostrils twitching as the smell of smoke filled them, "Every Night Fury can share a heart, but not all of us can connect well enough with a human to make it last."

Silence fell among the trainees and all those gathered around Hiccup, who now coughed and shuddered before falling still. "Astrid," She turned to look at Kuwaay.

"Hiccup is dying, but not every life is meant to last forever," The dragon heaved a sigh. "I will now be honest and say that the real reason Ki'shna's mother died was because the human with whom she shared a heart died as well."

Astrid stared blankly and then followed Kuwaay's gaze to where Hiccup lay. "Wait, you don't mean…?" Kuwaay nodded and Astrid felt a twinge of pain.

"Hiccup's mother shared a heart with Toothless' mother?" Korenth questioned to break the silence.

"A pure bond if I ever saw one," Kuwaay said with a pained smile, "But when Hiccup's mother died, so did Toothless' mother." Astrid looked down at Hiccup.

"That's why Toothless and Hiccup are so close," Astrid said finally. Kuwaay nodded once more.

"If anyone can share a heart with Hiccup, it's Ki'shna," Kuwaay stated, "But the choice is a difficult one."

"I don't see it that way," Astrid stated as she stood up. "To me, life without Hiccup is a life not worth living," At the moment Astrid couldn't care how corny her statement sounded, all she knew was that she'd never said anything truer in her entire life.

"Astrid…" Astrid turned at the sound of Hiccup's voice.

"Hiccup," She knelt down next to him. "We're going to get you out of this."

"There's no time," Hiccup said and grimaced as a violent shudder went through his body, "Hidaiyo is trying to bring all the Night Furies under his power so he can destroy and control the other villages. He knows about the eternal heart and will use it on all his soldiers."

Astrid froze and then gripped her hands into tight fists, "How did you find that out?"

"Because the General stabbed me before I came," Hiccup said, "He knew that my death would force your hand, Kuwaay."

The dragon's eyes blazed with unmatched anger, "You mean he sent you out here to die and then prove that the eternal heart exists?"

Hiccup nodded slowly and Astrid grasped his hand tightly before turning to Kuwaay, "We can't just let him die." The dragon closed his eyes meditatively as everyone withdrew to their own thoughts. Hiccup continued to shiver and was now no longer able to keep his eyes open.

"Kuwaay," One of the other Night Furies sang, "It is the will of the stars that we live to keep harmony among humans. This boy is your kin and he is human. We must honor the stars."

Kuwaay heaved a deep sigh. "I don't like that Hidaiyo is forcing us to follow his plan. But I think Hiccup lasted longer than the king expected because Hiccup informed us of the trap. We will go into it willingly and maybe the stars will bless us with the ability to reverse the trap."

"I like this plan," Tuffnut said, rubbing his hands together.

"It's the best one yet, I should know," Snotlout said with a self affirming nod. Ruffnut rolled her eyes.

"Sure you would," She said and Snotlout gave her a defiant look.

"He knows better than you do," Tuffnut commented and Ruffnut punched her brother in the arm.

"Hiccup, son of Berk," Kuwaay said, "I will-" Toothless pushed his father aside and stood over Hiccup for second before he stood up on two legs and gripped the scale covering the left side of his chest with his claws and pulled them back like the flap of a tent. The glow of the thudding heart reflected in everyone's eyes and it continued glowing even as Toothless grasped the round heart in his claws. As he split it in half, the color changed from a pinkish red to a vibrant green and then it continued to change colors as Toothless approached the now still form of Hiccup. Astrid backed away in stunned silence as the Night Fury nodded to her. She slipped the remains of Hiccup's armor and black tunic back to reveal the gash from the stab wound Hiccup had mentioned earlier. Toothless took the half heart in one claw and then cut further into Hiccup's chest and with a quick push the human heart came out in the dragon's claws. All the Vikings averted their eyes except for Astrid, who watched with shocked fascination as Toothless placed his half heart into Hiccup's open chest. The dragon's eyes closed firmly as the multicolored lights danced around the two friends. As the lights faded, Toothless took one look over at Astrid before collapsing to the ground next to Hiccup. Immediately Astrid was at the side of the dragon and Hiccup.

"Hiccup, Toothless," She said and let out a relieved sigh when she felt the soft heartbeat of both dragon and boy against her hands as they rested on the chests of her two friends.

"They will be resting for a while," Kuwaay said, "In the meantime we must construct a plan to attack Hidaiyo's castle."

Astrid stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes, "First I need to get my belt from the bottom of the lake, then I will be more than willing to talk about killing whoever did this to Hiccup."

Kuwaay frowned, "This is not about revenge, Astrid," He looked up at the sky. "The stars wanted us to revive Hiccup so that we could prevent bloodshed."

"How do you know?" Ruffnut demanded, "For all we know, the gods want us to do what the General did to Hiccup back at those vermin."

"A dragon's heart is bound by the laws of the stars," Kuwaay said firmly and a hint of anger entered the dragon's voice. "If both Hiccup and Ki'shna are to live, they must not violate the will of the stars and the stars do not run on revenge."

Ruffnut then muttered under her breath before turning away from the others. Fishlegs watched her with concern but resisted the urge to talk to her as he sensed she needed time to herself. Hiccup had almost died and had been revived in front of their eyes, she was probably more than preoccupied with those thoughts, if not more things.

Astrid had gone off to get her belt from the bottom of the lake, temporarily leaving the duty of watching Hiccup and Toothless to Snotlout and Tuffnut. She emerged from the water, grasping her belt and only then remembered that her shoulder was still dislocated. She touched it and then clambered onto the grass, breathing heavily.

"Your shoulder is dislocated," Astrid looked up to see Fishlegs standing above her. She pushed herself up. "I can put it back for you." Astrid nodded and Fishlegs put his hands on either side of her shoulder and pushed hard and with a loud pop the shoulder was back in its socket. Astrid bit down on her lip to keep from yelling in pain. But now her shoulder felt so much better.

"Thanks, Fishlegs," She said, but Fishlegs was already staring off in another direction. Astrid followed his gaze and then looked back at Fishlegs. There were so many things she was only just finding out about her fellow trainees and it was only because they were face to face with a dire fight against an enemy more complex than anything Astrid had ever faced.

"Let's go make a battle plan," Astrid said, clapping her friend on the shoulder. He nodded wordlessly and then followed Astrid back over to where the dragons were gathering to confer about their strategy. Already Snotlout and Tuffnut were arguing about who had more seniority now that Hiccup was out of commission and Astrid had to shake her head in silent amusement. Fishlegs' mouth twitched into a bemused smile and they exchanged silent looks before joining their friends.

* * *

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	11. All It Takes is a Smile

**Chapter 11**

**All It Takes is a Smile**

_A/N- Hey! I'm back and ready for some more writing action, woot! Just a heads up though, I'm already down to a little less than two weeks before I have to go back to college (which means my posts will most likely be limited to the weekend for the most part). But in the long run I am working towards ending this series and trying to come up with some prompts for HTTYD one-shots._

_I would have gotten this up earlier, but my internet went down (completely) and then I had a few things to take care of before getting back to my computer. _

_I hope everyone will forgive me and refrain from having their dragons maul me. _

_So! Here's the next chapter. I believe you'll all enjoy the fluff I put in here. I always give my work my best efforts- so as always I appreciate feedback on how I'm doing. _

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed the story so far and I am grateful to everyone for your continued support of this story. _

_-The Don ^_^_

_

* * *

_

Astrid was exhausted. She had never had more problems with trying organize a war than she was now. She had only trained in a ring against dragons and now she was pretty sure she'd be fighting dragons that were nothing like anything she'd faced before, except that she had faced some in the battle near the river. It still frightened her that despite everything she and her fellow trainees had been through, they still hadn't finished their fight to the finish. They'd all faced the Green Death with Hiccup, they'd fought countless dragons on Berk, befriended those dragons and now once again they would have to fight more dragons and warriors who were ruthless.

Not only that, Astrid was trying to fight a battle of her own: one that raged inside her constantly. She couldn't be sure how Hiccup would react to her when he woke up, how he'd react if he knew that she was going to lead part of the forces against Hidaiyo. Hiccup, who loved everything around him, worked hard to make peace with those who treated him like dirt and negotiated the worst villains into seeing truth, would definitely not like the idea of another battle, or the possibility of a war.

Astrid knew she honestly didn't like it either. That was the real problem. She couldn't help but channel the pure spirit of the boy who had unknowingly captured her heart in a single flight through the clouds on a dragon, a beast she could have sworn was anything but beautiful or amazing. Yet she found in that one flight that dragons were not only amazing, but that there was a person behind the useless screw-up and idiot Hiccup that was amazing. She now found it difficult to fathom how she could think badly of the brown haired boy now that his smile was the thing she wanted to wake up and see every morning. His toothy grin and his endearingly gentle way with dragons, especially Toothless, left Astrid without any words to describe the boy she had once said "He's never where he should be," to.

The statement, though cruelly intended, was true at its core. Hiccup had been in all the wrong places until he found Toothless and hesitated in killing the dragon. Then and there Hiccup was in the right place at the right time. There he'd proved that he had something the other Vikings never even considered: compassion.

Hiccup loved his village, he loved his fellow Vikings and most of all he loved dragons. He couldn't fight them because he had a heart where the cold steel of a weapon lay for everyone else in Berk. While Hiccup could talk to dragons like he would another person, everyone else was speaking through their weapons. Nothing got through to anyone.

Then Hiccup stood up to his father. Astrid remembered that day in the ring where Hiccup had asked her to protect Toothless if anything happened to him. It was that day that Astrid prayed, for the first time in her life, that Hiccup would be safe. She had never prayed for anyone, not in a long time. She'd never found anyone worth praying for. In fact, she'd given up on religion as a practice all together. She approached the world as an enemy to be brought down and axed in the back, nothing more.

But Hiccup changed that for her and she wasn't sure what to make of that fact anymore now than she had then. She wasn't sure if she should continue being the Astrid that everyone knew was tough and relatively heartless. She brutally insulted everyone and kept even her family at arm's length. She couldn't be sure if Hiccup loved her, if at all, despite her distinctly abrasive personality. It was also too awkward to ask him.

"Hey, Hiccup, does the fact that I'm abrasively brutal and I don't know how to love bother you?" Astrid said out loud to herself in a dry witted tone, "It doesn't? Great? That makes two of us." She sighed and rested her head in palm. "This is hopeless. Hiccup can't love someone who doesn't know how to love anyone but herself."

Astrid sighed, brushing her skirt off as she walked towards the forest. They had laid out the plans and there was a lull in the camp as everyone mentally prepared for the upcoming fight. As she reached the trees, she lifted her axe and readied it for throwing. A hand caught her arm as it bent back to hurl the axe. She tried without success to move her arm from the grip of the person behind her.

"Listen," She growled turning around, "I'm not in the mood-" She stopped in midsentence, "Hiccup?"

"You're not in the mood to what?" He repeated, not releasing his grip on her arm.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Astrid asked.

"You can't answer a question with a question, Astrid," Hiccup said with a sigh.

"Since when did you become an expert on how to answer questions?" She attempted once more to wrench her axe throwing arm from his grip, but it was like fighting a steel statue. When had Hiccup become so strong? He'd always been a flaky person, both physically and in terms of personality. He never managed to succeed at anything as far as Astrid could remember and until the flight they took on Toothless, Hiccup was anything but an ideal lover.

Now he was all of those things and more. He was reliable, confident, strong willed and physically able to do almost anything, except for swim because of his leg.

"What are you not in the mood to do?" Hiccup asked again.

"Talk to you," Astrid snapped back and Hiccup hid his pained expression badly behind a smile.

"Oh," He said, letting go of her arm and he let his own arm drop to his side while the other raked its hand through his hair. Astrid inwardly kicked herself for being so obnoxious to Hiccup just now. _Am I trying to prove my own point true? _"I guess I'll leave you alone then." Hiccup said and then turned to leave.

"Hiccup, wait," Astrid's voice escaped her before she could think. Hiccup's head turned, his warm eyes looking at her from over his shoulder. "I'm… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you."

Hiccup smiled as he walked back over, laying his hands on her shoulders, "It's okay. I knew you didn't mean it."

Astrid raised her eyebrow at that, "You did?"

Hiccup laughed, "Of course I did," His smile turned into a gentle look of understanding, "I know you." When Astrid still looked confused, Hiccup sighed and then continued, "I know because I've… I've always paid attention to you, Astrid."

Astrid blinked, "What?" None of the things Hiccup was saying to her now made any sense whatsoever. He was talking like a lunatic and Astrid was wondering if had anything to do with the fact that he'd woken up a few hours ago after almost dying. "Hiccup, nothing you're saying is making any sense."

"Right," Hiccup said, mussing his own hair as he tried to come up with a better explanation for what he was thinking at the moment. But in all honesty he was drawing a complete blank. No matter what he thought of saying made sense even in his head, so there was little chance that it'd make sense out loud, especially not to Astrid.

"Even when you hated me," Hiccup began again, and he held up a hand when she tried to interrupt him, "I know you did. I was everything you disliked. I was a klutz, I was weak, I wasn't confident, and I wasn't a beefy Viking with a future outside of the blacksmith shop," He sighed, "And I know I'm nowhere as good looking as the other guys."

_Not true, _Astrid's inner voice said and she worked hard not to blurt those words out. She wanted to deny everything he was saying, because none of it was true. She simply didn't hate Hiccup, there was no way she could have hated him. Was there? Or did she really hate him back before she'd seen Hiccup for the person he truly was? Astrid felt a sinking feeling. She didn't want to think that was true. It couldn't be.

"I screwed everything up," Hiccup continued shamefacedly, "I tried to find Toothless family and I ended up dragging you and everyone else into a big mess. So if anyone does hate me for that, I don't blame them."

Now Astrid's face twitched visibly. She was angry at Hiccup for once again doubting himself. He seemed to have gotten into an irreversible habit of doing that. She didn't like it and she was slowly losing her control over holding back all the arguments she wanted to scream back at him.

"I know you probably hate me the most out of anyone, Astrid," Hiccup began. That did it. Astrid jerked her arm back and hit him so hard that a whole flurry of leaves and a dirt cloud came up as he hit the ground. He stared at her with a thoroughly confused look on his face and as his eyes scanned Astrid's face for some hint of explanation, he blinked in surprise. There on her cheek was a single wet tear, already running to her chin. Astrid Hofferson was crying? Hiccup didn't believe it. He could have sworn he wasn't sleeping. He pinched himself and then nodded. He most certainly wasn't asleep.

So why, then, was Astrid crying? Most of all, why was she crying when he was the one who just got punched? Hiccup pushed himself to his feet and walked the short distance to where she stood. He stared at her for a moment.

"Astrid," He started but then she threw herself onto him, surprising and confusing Hiccup even further. Unable to hold both their weights, Hiccup slowly lowered himself to the ground, still holding Astrid gently in his arms. He let her press her face into his shoulder for a while, before he pried her away, wiping her eyes on his sleeve.

"You don't get it, do you?" She said and Hiccup opened his mouth and then shut it, shaking his head. Astrid smiled and sighed at the same time. Hiccup would always be a little on the slow side and normally if someone was slow, she'd beat the tar out of the person and yell at him or him until her voice was hoarse. But for some reason, she didn't seem to mind that Hiccup was slow. Maybe it was because this was Hiccup. Normal Astrid would have never cried in front of Hiccup. Normal Astrid would never have kissed Hiccup, unless it was shortly followed by jumping off the cliff. Normal Astrid wouldn't have even considered forgiving Hiccup for changing her opinion about dragons or for outclassing her in dragon training, via methods that she would have considered completely unorthodox. Normal Astrid would be punching the living daylights out of Hiccup by now and would be walking away with her head held up and triumphant. Normal Astrid would enjoy making fun of Hiccup and seeing him suffer from the pain in his leg.

But she stopped being "Normal Astrid" after her flight with Hiccup on Toothless. She felt hurt when she saw him limping on his prosthetic. She loved the idea of kissing Hiccup and wouldn't like anything more than to have him kiss her all the time. She now would forgive Hiccup for the rest of her life if it would make him smile and his dopey smile now caused her so much joy, that sometimes she had to look away. Now she loved watching Hiccup succeed and all she wanted was to see him standing up tall in front of the village as its Chieftain, in the place she knew he belonged. Astrid would now never abandon Hiccup in his times of need or ever intentionally hurt him.

Astrid was no longer the same person that she was before she got to know the real Hiccup and frankly, Hiccup wasn't the same person he used to be either. He was the symbol of hope and strength in the village. He was the kind of person everyone wanted to emulate. He was the example that Gobber would point out to the new trainees when talking about an ideal Viking or a hero.

"No one thinks you're a failure, Hiccup," Astrid continued, "Least of all me."

Hiccup's eyes went wide and then he gave a shaky laugh. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better, Astrid." She punched him in the arm.

"Watch who you're calling a liar or I might change my mind about finishing what I'm about to say."

"There's more?" He asked incredulously.

"Hiccup." Astrid glared at him and Hiccup flinched.

"Shutting up now," He said hurriedly. Astrid sighed. Sometimes she really did want to resort back to her normal attitude towards Hiccup, but her heart was being a pain and not letting her hurt Hiccup. It peeved her to the point of near internal insanity.

"What I was saying was that you're not a failure," Astrid said firmly, "You've always been different and you've never done things the way others in Berk do, sure, but you're not a failure because of it." Astrid watched as Hiccup's eyes never left her, curiosity and surprise lit in them at her words, but he didn't interrupt her. "No one else will say this to your face, but everyone in Berk knows you're the real reason we have a better life now. You're the real reason we can wake up and not have to worry about dragons attacking us or about how much food will be stolen," She paused, taking Hiccup's hand in hers. "You're the reason why I know I have a heart." Hiccup let out an exasperated sigh. "Instead of a rock."

"Astrid," He groaned. "You've always had one. That's what I like best about you."

Astrid blinked, "How did you know? I was always so cruel to you?"

Hiccup shrugged, "I could just tell it wasn't me you were really mad at," He smiled, "I was hoping you'd realize sooner rather than later that the only thing you were really mad at was yourself."

Astrid frowned, "I was mad at myself?"

"You were," Hiccup said with a nod, "Because you wanted to undo every single mistake you've ever made. You never wanted to be weak because you were afraid it might show that you just didn't want to be hurt or to lose any more than you already had."

Astrid stared blankly at Hiccup. How long had he known about her father? As if to answer her unasked question, Hiccup spoke, "I've known about your father for a long time, Astrid. I'm the son of the Chief, I hear things. Whether or not people want me to hear these things, I do. I hear about them and I care. I know everyone has a story they hide, something they don't want anyone to discover behind their tough acts. Even Snotlout has things that he wants to hide. I don't blame everyone for thinking I wouldn't understand. I'm the village idiot, I'm not supposed to understand," He frowned, "But I do. I understand more than I let on."

"So you like playing dumb?" Astrid asked, raising an eyebrow. Hiccup shrugged.

"It's better than trying to explain everything I know and how I know it," He grinned at Astrid's look of confusion.

"Do I want to know?" Astrid asked, giving him a strange look.

Hiccup shrugged again, "Probably not." Then he grinned his usual dopey grin before kissing her hard. "Then again, I could always tell you if you wanted me to."

"I'll pass," Astrid said and then burst out laughing. To think that all it took for her to see Hiccup as he really was, was his dopey smile.

It was the best feeling she'd had in a long time.

That is, until Hiccup kissed her again.

* * *

**A/N- Hee, that's the pre-battle fluff chapter. So up next will be the battle of epic proportions (if my brain works properly). =) See you guys at the next one!**

**Thanks to the following people for favoriting, reviewing and/or adding this story to their story alert lists (I'm sorry if I missed anyone in the last chapter):**

**BlackRoseDraco**

**Chulov**

**Cp90**

**Digizane**

**Olympian23**

**Luan Eksteen**

**Victoria62015**


	12. Turning the Tables

**Chapter 12**

**Turning the Tables**

_A/N- Yo! Long time no see! Well, technically I haven't "seen" any of you, but I mean it in a figurative sense. _

_So I just started college classes and from the looks of my schedule, I won't be doing much (if any) posting during the week. Even the weekends seem like they'll be filled with work since I'm insane and I decided to take a painting class and an animation class… at the same time. *Grins Maniacally* So yeah, basically both those classes require a ton of work both during the week and on the weekends. But, of course I'll be writing when I can. I don't want to overwork myself and I consider my fan fiction a nice break from the usual book reading and painting (even though that's not really "work" to me). _

_Anyhoozles, I'm happy to finally present this chapter, which is close to the end of this series. It's been fun while it lasted and I'm happy to say this story has over 6,000 hits (the highest of any of my stories). So it gives me great pride and pleasure to post these chapters because I know that you guys are reading and (I hope) enjoying them. =) _

_I also took a while to get this chapter up since I wanted to take the time to make sure it was exactly right (I'm meticulous about the weirdest things). _

_Enough of my babbling, here's the next chappie and I would appreciate any feedback you guys have to offer (if it isn't flaming of course). _

_-Don ^_^_

_

* * *

_

The tension before a battle, or so Astrid had learned, was always the worst part of the battle. Now Astrid was beginning to believe that. She couldn't help but feel some amount of apprehension despite the lengths that everyone had gone to ensure success in their assault. Nothing, at least in Astrid's memory of things, ever went smoothly or according to plan.

After all, she'd thought that she'd become the top trainee in dragon training and make her family proud. But she hadn't done either of those things. She'd lost in dragon training and in the end she and the rest of the village had to be rescued by the boy they'd all despised and looked down upon.

The most worrisome part of the plan was that Hiccup had a key role, that is, he was the bait to bring out the King's forces and distract them with several of the other Night Furies.

It was suicide in Astrid's eyes and even though she had to hand it to Hiccup for being so brave and offering to put his life on the line once more, she couldn't help but feel like her feeling of dread would only grow steadily worse as the day went on.

She hefted her axe in her hands and glanced over to see Hiccup securing his armor and his green eyes turned to rest on Astrid. For a few minutes, neither one of them spoke and then Astrid crossed over and broke the silence.

"Here, your chest plate is lopsided," Astrid straightened his plate and then looked up only to see that his armor wasn't the only thing that was lopsided. He had once more fixated her with his intoxicating lopsided and dopey grin. It was the same one had convinced her more or less that Hiccup was more than he appeared on the surface. It was also the same strange smile that Toothless had attempted to mimic countless times. "I think." His brow went up.

"Is it or isn't it?" Hiccup grinned and before she could readjust it again, he caught her hand and fixated her with a scrutinizing stare. "Focus, Astrid." He said, punching her in the arm lightly before throwing his bag over his should and mounting Toothless. It was the same thing that Gobber had said to Hiccup during dragon training, but now it was the difference between the failure and success of their battle and not just whether or not they got burned.

"Same to you," Astrid whispered and then turned around to join the rest of the knights gathering to leave.

* * *

Ruffnut took a few slashes with the sword that the knights had given her and then returned it to the sheath attached to her belt. She sighed and then nearly jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.

"Odin, Fish, don't do that!" Ruff said, turning around and glaring at the larger Viking behind her. He backed away, nervously casting a glance behind him at Astrid and Hiccup, who were similarly talking, though, Fishlegs noted, they weren't glaring at each other like Ruff seemed to want to.

"I just…" Fishlegs said in a quiet voice, "I just wanted to say-" He swallowed, "Be careful."

Ruff opened her mouth, her eyes flaring and her confusion at not having to make up a retort for his statement overwhelming her beyond words. Fishlegs at this point was already walking away.

"Fish, wait!" Ruff called finally. He turned. "You too." Fishlegs' eyes went a little wide and then he smiled, giving her a nod, before he went to join his attack group.

Ruffnut was confused, she hadn't meant to show any sign of vulnerability. She wasn't supposed to be sentimental. That made her, in Ruffnut's mind, weaker than Astrid. Ruffnut had wanted to prove to Hiccup that she was just as strong, if not stronger, than Astrid Hofferson. Instead, she'd shown her weakness to Fishlegs and wished to Thor that she could somehow turn back time so that she'd be the one that Hiccup was standing so close to.

But she wasn't. She would never be Astrid and some part of her already knew that because she wasn't, she would never have Hiccup's heart. She watched Hiccup as he mounted his dragon, his eyes briefly resting on Astrid, who would never see the gentle compassion he had in his eyes at that moment because her back was turned. If they made it through this fight, Ruffnut would make sure that Astrid understood what a privilege it was to have Hiccup love her and Ruffnut knew he did.

Only a fool wouldn't. Ruffnut looked up at the sky. She hoped to the gods that she'd live to see the day when she'd be able to admit her feelings to the one she loved like Fishlegs had.

* * *

Hiccup furrowed his brow as he sailed through the clouds, the water splashing onto his face and soaking his hair until it was sleeked against his face. Toothless let out a low growl and Hiccup's eyes went to the fast approaching castle visible through the clouds.

"This is where I leave you, Hiccup," Kuuwaay said, inclining his head, "Ki'shna," the larger dragon sang, "Your way to the stars is paved, do not stray."

Toothless let out a low humming sound and Hiccup felt a strange vibration in his own chest. They really did feel everything the other did now. Kuuwaay then dove, followed by two other Night Furies and immediately the castle erupted in chaos as the knights scrambled to their battle positions.

"Ready, Buddy?" Hiccup questioned. The dragon let out a determined bellow and Hiccup then angled himself. "Go!" The two then spiraled down and Toothless let out a roar as a jet of purple-blue flame struck the battlements. The knights immediately jumped out of the way as Toothless landed on the battlements and Hiccup straightened, fixating the nearest soldier with a hard stare.

"Tell your king that Hiccup Haddock is alive," Hiccup stated. He'd spent hours trying to build up enough confidence to say those words and he was proud that he hadn't stammered when he'd said them. "And tell him that I challenge him to a duel on dragons."

At those words, Toothless let out another roar and shot flames into the sky. Hiccup frowned. "That was overkill, Buddy." Toothless grumbled, casting a glare back at his rider. Hiccup gave a shrug. "But, hey, it worked." The soldiers were now running down the stairs leading into the castle and shouting the message down the halls.

"I just hope we can pull this off," Hiccup said under his breath. Toothless let out a concerned growl. "Yeah, you're right. We have to try." He turned his head as the out of breath king staggered out onto the battlements.

"You!" He rasped, "How are you alive?" Hiccup grinned.

"Eternal Heart," Hiccup replied, patting Toothless on the side of his neck. "Sound familiar?"

The king moved his mouth silently and then clenched his jaw, "So it does exist," The king laughed. "I knew my father was lying."

"Your father?" Hiccup questioned.

"The man who discovered the true secrets of the Eternal Heart," Hidaiyo continued, "Was someone my father knew. He asked a favor of the woman who knew the secrets," the king looked right at Hiccup now. "Your mother."

* * *

Ruffnut grunted as she once again set about trying to get her opponent to show an opening. But there was no such luck with these warriors. It was either to kill quickly or be killed, or left to die, though Ruffnut really wasn't in the mood to give in to any of those fates.

She was frankly left with a confusing plethora of thoughts and emotions that she couldn't, for the life of her, place. It was aggravating and it was proving to be a useful tool for bashing aside her opponents. At a certain point, few wanted to come near the moody teenager because she was through playing nice. Not that Ruffnut played "nice." In fact, she wasn't even sure she knew what the word meant anymore if at all.

She couldn't get Fishlegs' words before the battle out of her head. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she had a feeling that if something went wrong, it would have something to do with one of the Vikings. She sincerely hoped that it wouldn't be Hiccup, but she knew as well as anyone that trouble seemed to revolve around Hiccup.

After all, he was the village's brilliantly idiotic hero.

* * *

Hiccup froze, letting the words sink in. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was a little surreal, even for Hiccup, who had gone through the wringer in terms of the unbelievable and surreal.

"So that makes us cousins?" Hiccup questioned. Hidaiyo smiled wryly.

"If only the truth were that simple," He glanced back as knights pushed forward a catapult and archers began to line the battlements. "Your mother was the second human to ever share a heart with a dragon."

Hiccup frowned, "Second?"

"The first, Hiccup," Hidaiyo stated, "Was you."

Hiccup shook his head, "That's impossible. Toothless just shared his heart with me just now."

Hidaiyo laughed, "Wrong, Hiccup," He gestured to himself. "The favor my father asked was because his two sons, twins, died in childbirth," Hidaiyo stared hard at Hiccup, "Didn't you wonder why you were so weak all your life?"

Hiccup opened his mouth and then shut it. He did think it was odd that he'd been so small despite the fact that his mother and father were both huge as far as Vikings went. "What are you saying?"

"That your heart was already split before now," Hidaiyo stated, "To save the life of myself and my twin brother. Your heart, Hiccup," the king said, "Wasn't ordinary."

Hiccup frowned, "Meaning what? My heart's the same as anyone else's."

"Again, wrong," Hidaiyo said with a snort, "You really are slow." The King said, giving Hiccup a frown.

"Thank you," Hiccup said dryly, "For summing that up."

"You're welcome," Hidaiyo returned the dry tone, "My point is that your mother found out that her sharing of a heart had affected you, Hiccup. You had a dragon's heart."

"But she didn't have the Eternal Heart until after I was born," Hiccup said, frowning dubiously.

"She didn't," Hidaiyo said, nodding, "But you did."

Hiccup blinked. "You lost me."

Hidaiyo heaved a sigh. It wasn't his usual nature to be this patient when explaining something he already knew a good deal about. But since this was a complex matter that Hiccup had been left in the dark about his entire life, Hidaiyo couldn't blame the Viking for not understanding anything.

"You said my mother had an eternal heart, how did she transfer it to me if I was already born at that point?"

"I never said she had to transfer it to make your heart that of a dragon, Hiccup," Hidaiyo said with a stern look. "Your mother gained the Eternal Heart because of her own situation. Because she had been weakened because of you."

Hiccup scowled, "Because of me? Are you accusing me of killing my own mother?" His fists clenched, "Because even for you, that's low."

Hidaiyo smirked, "It seems I touched a nerve. No, Dear Hiccup, you didn't kill her," He nodded sympathetically, "At least not on purpose."

Hiccup's eyes flared, "Give me one good reason why I should believe you."

"Because you're here, Hiccup," Hidaiyo stated, "That's proof enough. You had an unusual heart. One, I might add, was the result of familial ties to the origin of the first Eternal Heart."

Hiccup frowned, "You mean that the first Eternal Heart wasn't that of a dragon."

"Correct," Hidaiyo said with an approving nod. Hiccup wasn't as slow as he let on. In fact, Hiccup was every bit the leader his father was and more. Hiccup had a warrior's instincts, but he never used his skills. It was a shame, really, in Hidaiyo's mind that such a strong witted warrior existed but refused to fight.

"Then how come I had the heart and my mother didn't?" Hiccup asked.

"I imagine that it was simply chance that you got the heart and no one else in your family got the heart. But, I do know that those who have the Eternal Heart as humans have a cursed gift," Hidaiyo looked right at Hiccup, "Because those who have it need a dragon to divide the heart or they'll die."

"So that's why my mother agreed to give you and your brother pieces of the heart?" Hiccup said, thinking out loud. Hidaiyo nodded once more.

"Exactly," Hidaiyo replied, "So, in a way, you're the reason why I'm alive and trying to kill you."

"How charmingly ironic," Hiccup said with his usual dry tone and a wry smile.

"I think so," Hidaiyo said. "You also realize, then, why your mother could give use pieces of your heart," Hidaiyo didn't wait for an answer this time. "Because we are all part of the same ancient clan: Haddock. Do you know what the name means, Hiccup?"

Hiccup turned his head as shouts tore through the air. The archers began to let loose their arrows down on the charging figures on the ground below. The Night Furies were breathing fire onto the catapults and the knights on the battlements were leaping off, only to drop to their deaths on the battlements. The crunching of the bodies as they fell caused Hiccup's insides to churn.

"Hiccup," Hidaiyo stepped in front of Hiccup, his hand resting on his scrimtar. "Do you know what the name Haddock means?"

"No!" Hiccup said, not really understanding what was making him so angry, but the sounds of the battle around him had caused something in him to snap. "No, I don't and you know what? I don't care!"

Hidaiyo's lip twitched, "Oh, Dear, it seems Hiccup has finally joined the reality he lives in," The king's mocking tone only served to make Hiccup angrier and thus Toothless nostrils began to smoke, his emotions were now completely tied to those of Hiccup.

"Haddock is the third clan that can draw its roots back to that of the ancient clan of the Eternal Heart," Hidaiyo stated, "And it is the most direct because the original clan's name was Haddoairi," He paused as Hiccup's hand reflexively drew his blade and pointed it at Hidaiyo's throat, "Meaning 'Dragon Hearted'."

* * *

Astrid rushed forward with the rest of the knights led by Korenth, cutting down the black armored warriors that came down to meet the combined Viking and knight forces. Gormath tore the warriors to pieces as he bore down on them. His teeth sunk into their torsos and then his immense jaws shook them from side to side and then cast them aside like broken rag dolls.

The lion roared and then the Night Furies let out their own battlecries in kind. Astrid let out her own yell and then set about, cutting down the warriors with a sense of righteous determination. This was to help save Berk and to destroy the evil that was the king. She was doing the right thing.

The cries from the battlements did nothing to settle Astrid's mind on that matter. She couldn't help but feel pangs of guilt when she felt the give in each of her intended opponents as their bodies were crushed by her axe as it sliced through layer after layer.

_Okay, _She thought, _That was a not-so pleasant image. _She shivered a little. It was odd that she no longer took pleasure in fighting like she used to. It was stranger that she even almost thought of killing as wrong at this point.

An ear piercing screech thundered through the sky as two large objects spiraled upwards in an almost dance-like struggle. It took Astrid a moment to realize that the two objects were dragons and that one of them was-

"Toothless!" She yelled. The Night Fury roared and scratched at the eyes of the other dragon. The two riders held their swords aloft and brought them down on each other's dragons. The cries that emitted from Toothless echoed from Hiccup's lips. The two were bound now in everything and there wasn't a blessed thing that Astrid could do to help either of them.

Except hope that Hiccup had enough sense to pull out while he still had the chance.

_Fat chance of that, _Astrid thought grimly. If there was anything Hiccup wasn't, it was a quitter.

* * *

The two dragons pulled out of their struggle and began to dive towards the ground, remaining parallel to one another as they flew. The air whipped against Hiccup's face and it stung. His lungs burned but he was determined to keep Hidaiyo's attention on Hiccup alone. He only had a small amount of time before the siege forces arrived and he would need to have cleared the way for the attack.

Hiccup glanced toward the castle and then back at his opponent. Then he touched Toothless lightly on his neck and the Night Fury eyed Hiccup, a knowing look passed between them as Hiccup nodded.

Toothless then abruptly pulled out of the dive only to angle himself to head on a direct path for the castle's battlements.

"Hang in there, Toothless," Hiccup said as Hidaiyo turned his dragon around and shot toward the other dragon and rider. The king's eyes never left Hiccup, but Hiccup was already focused on something else.

Hidaiyo turned into a dive, following the suit of the other dragon and both sped up as the battlements came closer and closer. Hiccup could almost feel the wind cutting into his skin and chilling him to the bone. He gritted his teeth. _Hold on, Hiccup, _he told himself.

"Now!" He yelled and Toothless opened his mouth and shot a jet of fire into the battlements right before both dragons smashed straight through the stone, shattering it on impact.

**A/N- Keh, heh, heh. Cliffhanger. =) I'll see you guys at the next one. **

**Thanks to the following people for favoriting, alerting, and/or reviewing this story:**

**AltonHammen**

**Digizane**

**Dotm9168**

**NightFuryCrazy**

**Ramen knight**


	13. Hero's Trial

**Chapter 13**

**Hero's Trial**

_A/N- I've been brainstorming ideas for this chapter for a while, but I didn't get to write it until now, so I apologize once again for the delay. _

_This series is down to the last chapters and I've quite enjoyed writing this series, so I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as well. _

_I've appreciated all the reviews and support throughout this series, they really helped to encourage me to keep plugging away at this fic. Originally I wasn't going to push as hard at this as I did, but the support definitely made me fully dedicated to putting more effort into seeing this through to the end._

_Because this is close to the end, the chapters will be slightly shorter, but I am planning to work hard on them and there will be an epilogue to wrap up the series. _

_I'm considering writing a sequel story, but I haven't decided if I will or not. I have a lot of other projects running, so if I do start a sequel, it might not be for a while. _

_Anyways, thank you, Everyone, you are amazing. _

_-Don ^_^_

_

* * *

_

Hiccup had to admit as he shoved debris from the crumbled wall of the battlements off him, that crashing through solid stone wasn't one of his better ideas and he'd done some pretty idiotic things throughout his life.

He turned his head to look around as Toothless shook his wings out and gave Hiccup a careful look over to make sure his friend was okay. Once Toothless was satisfied, they both turned their attention toward Hidaiyo, who had now emerged from the debris. They had crashed all the way through the ground of the battlements down to the basement floor of the castle.

Hiccup scanned the ruins for any sign of Hidaiyo's dragon. His heart sunk when he noticed the head peeking out from beneath a pile of rocks. The angle at which the head was turned and the way the neck was stretched could only mean it had broken in the fall, killing the dragon.

Even if Hidaiyo had hurt Hiccup, he bore no ill intent or wishes toward Hidaiyo or his dragon. He'd never wanted to kill anyone, least of all any dragons. Hiccup had learned long ago that holding grudges never solved anything, no matter how righteous it seemed in the heat of the moment.

Now the guilt was sinking through Hiccup's throat and into his stomach. He swallowed hard.

"You played your card, Hiccup," Hidaiyo stated, "Now I'll play mine." The pain in the king's voice was evident: he had loved that dragon.

"Hidaiyo-"

"No!" Hidaiyo yelled and drew his blade. "This ends now! You and your blasted dragons have caused me nothing but pain! You think you saved people when your heart was shared? You revived me so I could suffer at the hands of kidnappers, other enemies and rogue dragons!"

"I'm sorry, Hidaiyo," Hiccup said softly, "Truly, I am. But I can't change the past."

Hidaiyo spat on the ground, "Change it? Ha! You wouldn't know, would you?" He glared with clear distaste at Hiccup. "You've never given it any thought, have you?"

Hiccup grimaced. The truth was that Hiccup had a hard time moving away from the past all the time. He felt he could never be rid of it. His mother had died when he was young and he never really knew why until now. He'd also never be able to forget why he lost his leg and why he'd never think of dragons in a bad light ever again.

"You think you've lost a lot?" Hidaiyo demanded, "You don't know what loss is!"

Hiccup outwardly sucked in his breath and then reached reluctantly into his belt to draw his sword. He hefted it up and closed his eyes before looking directly at Hidaiyo. Toothless growled and stepped up beside his rider, but Hiccup held out his hand, pushing Toothless back.

"No, Buddy, this has to be between us," He placed a comforting hand his dragon's snout. As much as he knew that Toothless would be help in this fight, he also knew that if one of them was hurt, so was the other. So Hiccup needed fight without worrying about who would be hit first and what that meant.

"Hmph," Hidaiyo smiled and Hiccup could only turn his head a fraction of an inch before he heard the sound of a bow string being pulled taut. Then the _twang _stung Hiccup's heart before the arrow found its target.

* * *

Astrid could only watch in horror as Hiccup and Toothless crashed through the battlements into the insides castle below. She had to believe Hiccup knew what he was doing, but more often than not she questioned his sanity as well as his logic.

He was brave and noble as anyone and he had a heart of gold, but he wasn't immortal, the last experience had told Astrid as much. She turned her attention away from the battlements as the knights of Korenth rushed a battering ram past her and soon the door was down.

The distracted warriors inside had little time to react to the onslaught that followed the fall of the door. The knights set about cutting down the warriors without remorse and even Astrid was shocked at the brutality of the battle unfolding before her.

Normally Astrid would be completely unperturbed, if not, completely supportive of fighting the good fight. At least that was true until she realized that "good" wasn't the best word to describe how carnal battles were in reality. If left to their own devices, most of the knights and warriors now killing each other, they'd destroy each other down to the last bits of flesh until nothing but the ground was left beneath where their bodies once stood.

Perhaps fear was a factor in the amount of bloodlust that lit in the minds and hearts of the Vikings from Berk. Astrid certainly hadn't paid fear much mind and now that she was faced with seeing her friends risking their lives with a high probability of death she knew what fear was.

No, even before now she'd felt it. She'd felt it when she'd seen Hiccup disappear into the clouds and come down only to get sucked into a sea of flames while he battled the Green Death. Something about the way Hiccup went about his life from that moment on, how he'd go around charging into every single fight no matter how dangerous, caused an abnormal amount of fear to well up in her heart.

She'd never thought she'd care enough to give Hiccup the time of day, but now she couldn't help but want to pull him back and never let him go out there again. But that had much of a chance of happening as Hiccup had of abandoning Toothless. She knew that Hiccup also had a duty as the future Chief to be the first to rush into battle. He had to have courage and a level head.

The Hiccup of the past would never have considered being the first on the frontlines, but the current Hiccup was always the one to do whatever was necessary to ensure the success of the mission.

When a pained roar ripped through the air, Astrid turned her head toward the source, a place deep within the walls of the castle where she could only hope to the gods that Hiccup wasn't.

Something told her he was there. She just hoped, first time in her life, that she was wrong.

* * *

Fishlegs smashed his way through the rubble of the wall and punched aside any warriors that stood in his way. His instincts had told him that he had to get to Hiccup soon.

He didn't know what it was, but something was bugging Fishlegs about this entire battle. From the start, the surprise attack had come off too easily and now he had the distinct feeling that their advantage was about to be lost.

As he slowed to a stop, he lifted his gaze to rest on the scene unfolding before him. Hiccup and the king were facing each other off while Toothless looked on with wary eyes. A crunch of rock behind Fishlegs whipped his head around to see a warrior with a bow-caster in his hands. The bow was aimed straight at Toothless' unprotected chest.

Nothing in Fishlegs' life had ever been the result of snap decisions. He was always the one to contemplate statistics, facts, and then calculate the best options. He was mathematical at best. His best features were his strength and bulky size. He wasn't a leader or a courageous soul like Hiccup. He wasn't a womanizer like Snotlout and despite the negativity of Lout's nature, he was still a gentleman at heart and was able to win the heart of any woman he wanted to. Tuffnut at least had the advantage of having a twin that always fought alongside him, even if Ruffnut fought endlessly with her brother. They had a dynamic that Fishlegs could only hope to achieve from any of his fellow trainees.

He wasn't the best dragon rider either. He didn't know why he was the one who ended up having the worst shortcomings in the end. He despised himself for them.

Fishlegs' instincts were never all that sharp and maybe that was for the best when he half jumped and half ran the short gap between where he stood only had the time to turn his head before Toothless let out a roar, finally noticing the bow-caster's intended target.

* * *

The hairs on Ruffnut's arm stood up. That alone was saying something because they were blonde and it was almost impossible to tell whether or not they were standing up or lying in their natural position on her skin.

She'd heard Toothless' roar from across the battlefield and it almost seemed as though time stopped. Both warriors and knights alike stopped their fighting to look toward the castle with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

Ruffnut could only pray that no one she knew was hurt. But when she saw Astrid bolting across the battlefield to get to the castle, she felt a lump form in her throat and it became painfully difficult to breathe, let alone speak.

Just like that, the battle began once again and the blood flowed freely across the ground, trickling into the nooks and crannies of the cracked earth. Something tapped her shoulder and she cast her eyes skyward only to feel the first drops of rain hit her face before it began pounding on the armies fighting on the ground below.

She turned her head and began to batter away the strikes of a warriors, her eyes continued to look back at the castle and when she heard a shout, this time she knew it was Hiccup's voice. She turned her head, stalled briefly by the frightening sound his tone held. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw the double edged sword swinging toward her head and then the weight of her head dragged her down into the mud.

**A/N- Sorry, I was going to get this up earlier today, but I couldn't get onto FFN long enough to load it. I'm hoping to get another chapter up soon, but this weekend is looking pretty busy. We'll see. **


	14. What's Broken

**Chapter 14**

**What's Broken **

_A/N- I got a writing itch and I felt that it was time to start to push this series toward its conclusion. Which, I think will be either this next chapter or the one after it, I'm not sure. _

**Michael Flanigan- Thanks! =) I'm glad you liked it. I got that idea from watching the movie and it seemed to fit so I'm happy that you like it. I wasn't sure it would work at first, but it seems to be okay. Thanks for reviewing! **

_Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and I will list the names of those who have support this series at the end as usual (at the end of the last chapter I will include the names of everyone who has supported the whole series). _

_I'm really hungry right now because I just watched "Ratatouille" and it's driving me nuts since I already had dinner. Urg. Oh, well, tomorrow's another day for food. _

_Toodlekaboodle,_

_-Don ^-^_

_

* * *

_

The scream escaped Hiccup's mouth too late to stall the arrow from sinking itself through the fabric of Fishleg's shirt and bury itself in his breast. A second one then struck a few centimeters away from the first and that was all it took for Hiccup to react. He bolted over to his friend's side and Toothless let out a pained roar, turning his fierce yellow eyes onto the archer.

The larger Viking's smile as he slowly fell over caused Hiccup's heart to seize. He caught Fishlegs as his friend neared the ground, lowering Fishlegs onto the ground as gently as possible. As Fishlegs wasn't light, Hiccup could barely hold his friend up. Hiccup then rose to his feet, turning his gaze onto the archer with light flaring his green eyes.

He slowly stood up and glared at Hidaiyo without blinking. The king, who had been confident in his underhanded attack on Toothless, swallowed hard. Hiccup may have been a pushover in the past, but even Hidaiyo knew that the boy was no longer faint hearted or by any means weak.

Hiccup didn't turn his head as the door to the basement banged open and Korenth and his knights poured into the room. They halted, surveying the scene before them before rushing over to tend to Fishlegs, who was now breathing raggedly.

"Take care of him," Hiccup commanded. Korenth hesitated as the other knights took sides of Fishlegs to lift him from the ground.

"But, Hiccup-" Korenth began, but Hiccup's sharp voice stalled any further comments.

"Korenth," Hiccup's voice held pain and tension that Korenth knew better than to test. He nodded.

"Don't do anything stupid," Korenth said and then followed his knights out. Hiccup then refocused his attention on Hidaiyo, who had now noticed that his archer had been dispatched by one of Korenth's knights as quickly as they had arrived.

Hiccup reached over and undid the clasps to his armor plate and cast it aside. He knew that if he was going to be quick, he couldn't have the weight of his armor plate and his leg weighing him down at the same time. He then lifted his sword up, indicating to Hidaiyo to do the same. The king slowly drew his sword and stood ready.

"You know," Hiccup said, his voice cracking slightly, "I was almost ready to believe you were an honorable person. I thought maybe we shared more than a similar face. But apparently all we don't have anything in common at all."

Hidaiyo laughed hollowly, "You're naïve, Hiccup," The king said briskly, "The world is cruel and if you aren't willing to be that way, you'll get the raw end of the-" Hidaiyo staggered backwards, looking down at the sword growing out of his chest. He then lifted his gaze to meet Hiccup's listless gaze.

"You-" Hidaiyo wheezed, "That was underhanded. I thought you only played fair."

Hiccup smiled grimly, "Apparently you don't know Vikings as well as you think you do."

Hidaiyo coughed and then sunk down onto the ground. Hiccup crossed over and crouched next to the fallen king as his eyes slowly clouded over. "Tell me something, Hidaiyo," Hiccup said, "Just why did you decide to shoot Toothless and not me?"

Hidaiyo glared at Hiccup, but he answered, "Because your dragon would only be paying attention to you and you trust your dragon enough that you wouldn't need to protect him."

Hiccup shook his head, "You're wrong."

"What?" Hidaiyo blinked. He looked at Hiccup's eyes as they changed from cold to fearful and hesitant.

"Toothless needs me as much as I need him," Hiccup stated. As if he sensed that this conversation now involved him, Toothless crossed over and bumped Hiccup's arm with his nose. The boy scratched his dragon in response. "We protect each other. If I hadn't built Toothless a new tail, he wouldn't be able to fly and if Toothless hadn't grabbed me from the flames, I would have lost more than my leg."

Hidaiyo opened his mouth and then shut it. He let out a short snort of laughter and then smiled. "I guess I underestimated you, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock. That is a mistake I will not make again."

Hiccup opened his mouth to question the statement and then cringed as he whirled around to see Klovar hurling a spear across the room.

* * *

Astrid heaved a heavy burst of breath before reaching the door to the basement of the castle. She'd run into Korenth on the way to the basement and she'd been horrified to hear that Fishlegs had been severely injured. She could only guess how Hiccup might react to that fact. Fishlegs and Hiccup were incredibly close friends, even more so than Astrid had been to Hiccup before their flight on Toothless.

She then staggered into the room just as the soldier in front of her hefted a spear in his hand and hurled it at Hiccup, who was preoccupied with talking to the king. Her body moved forward, her axe struck the soldier a fraction of a second after the spear left his hands. She watched in horror as the spear soared across the room and into Hiccup's back. Toothless and Hiccup let out simultaneous screams of pain before Hiccup's knees hit the floor. Astrid wasted no time in rushing to his side. She cast a glance over at the king, who was now slumped against the ground, his eyes closed and a content smile latched onto his face. Astrid let out a sickened snort. The bastard died before she could exact her revenge on him for hurting Hiccup and Fishlegs.

She returned her attention to Hiccup as he let out a ragged gasp. She knelt next to him and grasped his hand. "Take it easy," She said calmly, though she herself wasn't calm at all. "I'll get this out." She gripped the spear, but a gentle, yet firm grip on her hands prevented her from moving them at all. She turned her head to see Korenth behind her.

"If you pull that out you'll kill him," Korenth stated coolly as he wrested her hands off the spear. Then he sighed as he glanced sideways at the king.

"I guess my brother followed through with his plans anyways," Korenth's mouth tugged into a pained smile.

"You knew about this?" Astrid said as she finally caught on to his words. Korenth turned his head to look at her.

"Of course," Korenth said, "We may not share the same beliefs or even want to share the same ground as each other, but we're brothers. We are different as can be, but he forgot that he told me long ago that he planned to exact revenge on the Haddock bloodline."

Astrid opened her mouth and then shut it, "I don't follow."

Korenth shrugged, "I wouldn't expect you to," He smiled gently at her, "He was young when he said that, so I didn't think much of it. I was just happy to be alive. But Hidaiyo wasn't. He was always talking about how he hated having to live a half life, a life full of torment. We'd lost so much to the point where he'd given up living altogether.

"So I was shocked when I found out that he'd decided to try to restore the old Haddock castle and formed a force composed of those who were loyal to the old bloodline," Korenth looked over at Hiccup as Korenth gently felt Hiccup's pulse. "He wanted to use the very force that had given him his life back to destroy the Haddock family and their dragons. The Haddock family was born in the mountains, so it's not surprising that when they drifted away that they forgot their connection to the dragons altogether. Hiccup was going to revive that tradition and my brother wouldn't have that happen, not without a fight," Korenth looked once more over at his brother and then back at Astrid. "You're wondering, what all this has to do with Hiccup right now," It wasn't a question. Astrid nodded. All she wanted was for Hiccup to be healed and for everything to be fine. But she knew from experience that nothing ever went well for anyone, no matter how much they wanted it.

There would always be drawbacks and there would always be imperfections. She turned as Toothless let out a low whimper and groaned out of his nostrils. She placed a hand comfortingly on the dragon's nose. She looked over at Korenth, who was staring off into space now.

"You know something, don't you?" Astrid questioned. He nodded silently.

"What is it?" She demanded, though her voice was much softer and fainter than usual. The anxiety over Hiccup's condition was obviously getting the better of her.

He bit his lip and then looked over at Astrid, "Astrid, there's something you should know about Hiccup."

* * *

Ruffnut shoved aside the knights and barreled her way through the crowd around the healing tents that the knights of Korenth had pitched up. She slowed down once she saw the knights carrying the unmistakable form she'd seen from afar and only now did the truth sink in.

Fishlegs really was hurt and it wasn't something she could tease him or scold him lightly about. As Fishlegs was lowered down to the ground and the healers set about stopping the bleeding.

"We need better supplies!" One of the healers called to the approaching form of Korenth. The leader had a stoic expression on his face and his grim eyes rested on Fishlegs for a moment before he nodded.

"The closest place would be Berk," He waved his hand and the knights set about cleaning up camp. The other Viking trainees stood off to the side, blank expressions and helplessness that Ruffnut swore she'd never see on Snotlout or her brother's faces in her entire life. Yet, there they were, confused and helpless as Fishlegs was lifted onto a stretcher and carried toward the ships.

"You won't make it in time," The loud thud on the ground told Ruffnut that Kuuwaay had landed. He spread his wings out and nodded to Korenth, who in turn nodded to his men, who lifted Fishlegs onto the dragon's back.

"Who'll ride with him?" Korenth questioned.

"I will."

All eyes turned on the solitary form of Astrid. Ruffnut turned her eyes to face the other girl. Astrid's eyes were red and her shoulders carried the weariness that Ruffnut could almost feel radiating from the blonde Viking. "I will too," Ruffnut stated. She climbed up onto the dragon and helped to secure Fishlegs to the Kuwaay's back. She then waited until they were in the air to turn to Astrid.

"You going to tell me what that was all about?" Ruffnut asked. Astrid heaved a long sigh and sniffed. It was clear that Astrid had been crying. "What happened?"

Astrid shook her head and Ruffnut grunted. "Don't lie, Astrid. I know something happened. Was it Hiccup?"

Astrid finally managed to form a few clumsy words, "No, not Hiccup."

"Then what?" Ruffnut demanded. Astrid sighed and shook her head again. Apparently something had happened back at the castle that had shaken Astrid up pretty badly, because at no point in all Ruffnut's years of knowing the other girl, Ruffnut had never seen Astrid so disoriented. It was frightening and she could tell it had to have had something to do with Hiccup, even if Astrid wouldn't admit it.

"Hiccup's okay, right?" Ruffnut questioned, the stab of pain at the implication of her own question hurt her already. She wasn't sure what kind of response she was going to get, but she could already tell it wasn't going to be simple or good.

Astrid didn't respond once more and Ruffnut had to wonder if that should be taken as a "no" or not. She sighed and geared herself up for one final attempt to get the truth from Astrid when she spoke.

"He's broken," Astrid said numbly. Ruffnut blinked.

"Broken? What do you mean? Who's broken?" Astrid shook her head fervently as though she was trying to deny her own words.

"Hiccup."

Ruffnut blinked again, "What do you mean? You're not making any sense, Astrid."

Astrid rubbed her eyes on her sleeve and then looked back at the island where she could just barely make out the form of Korenth standing on the shoreline. As they flew he slowly disappeared in the fog and then Astrid returned her attention to Ruffnut.

"So he told you?" Kuuwaay asked, one of his eyes turning to look back at Astrid, who nodded wordlessly. He turned his attention back to flying, but continued to talk, "You may not be able to accept it now, but you will."

Astrid sighed and she spoke, relieved that her voice finally sounded normal again, "I know. I may not be able to tell what to do now, but I will."

Kuuwaay smiled, "That's all you can expect of yourself."

Ruffnut paused, raising a questioning eyebrow at Astrid, who waved her hand, indicating that she'd explain later.

"_Something about Hiccup?" Astrid looked curiously at Korenth. "What haven't you told me?"_

"_It's not so much what I have to tell you as something Hiccup needs to tell you and what you need to tell Hiccup," Korenth said, "But for now you need to go to Berk with Fishlegs. He needs your help."_

"_But what about Hiccup?"_

"_He's broken," Korenth stated with a smile, "You don't have to worry about that."_

"_Broken?" Astrid frowned, "What about that is supposed to be comforting?"_

"_All of it," Korenth replied, "What I wanted to tell you about Hiccup is that he's always going to be part of the Eternal Heart. As long as he's part of that, he can't move on."_

_Astrid swallowed, "On?" She continued in a low voice, "You mean die."_

_Korenth shrugged, "Not necessarily. You see, the Eternal Heart isn't just a concept, it's an actual person. Usually someone who has decided to take on the hearts of others."_

_Astrid opened her mouth and then shut it, finally understanding. Now she knew what Korenth meant by 'broken.' It meant Hiccup wasn't going to be the Eternal Heart anymore._

"_But that means…." Astrid looked at Korenth, comprehension of the situation dawning upon her. Korenth smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. _

"_I'll always be here," Korenth said. "Parts never stop being part of the whole." Astrid looked reluctantly over at Hiccup and then back at Korenth, who gave her a small shove. _

"_Go, Astrid and someday, you won't even remember why this hurt so much."_

_Astrid nodded and stood up and ran out of the basement. Korenth watched her go and then looked back down at Hiccup._

"_It's up to you now."_

Astrid looked back at the island and soon she felt herself smiling, though she wasn't sure she even remembered why. It was strange, for some reason she could feel that she was missing something, but she couldn't remember what it was.

"Astrid?" Ruffnut repeated. Astrid turned.

"What? I'm fine," She smiled. "Really." Ruffnut finally nodded, accepting Astrid's answer. Ruffnut wasn't sure what had happened, but she expected, like all things, she would someday.

Kuuwaay touched down on the ground and immediately Ruffnut ran to the home of the village's healer while Astrid stood with Kuuwaay.

"You wish to ask something, ask," Kuuwaay stated. Astrid looked up at the dragon, her eyes filled with a wonder that hadn't been there before.

"I was wondering why I'm in pain, yet I know nothing is really wrong," Astrid said slowly. Kuuwaay nodded.

"That is because you, like many before you, have discovered that while there is a full heart, there is no reason to fear the world about you," He then looked up as Ruffnut returned with the healer and helped carry Fishlegs back to the healing house.

"Go, Young Viking, and what will come, will come," Kuuwaay stated, nudging Astrid with his nose. "I will see to it that K'ishna returns home."

Astrid smiled, "I look forward to it." With that the dragon took off, leaving Astrid standing on the cliff for a while as she watched the dragon disappear among the clouds. She lingered there for a few moments longer before turning around to walk home.

She would wait. Finally she knew her heart was coming home for good.

* * *

**A/N- I decided while writing this that I would make the next chapter the last one-as an epilogue of sorts. **

**Thanks to the following people for supporting this fic:**

**Timberjack666**

**Bobolink7**

**Arlothia**

**Anaxn**

**Michael Flanigan**


	15. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

**Coming Home**

_A/N- Hey all! Well, here it is, the epilogue of this fan fic. I have a sequel in development and a sequel shot to "Faking It" also in the works, so this is by no means the end of my HTTYD writing. I appreciate the support and feedback that I've received throughout this series and I hope that everyone has enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. _

_I am also going to work on some drawings of some of the characters(including my OCs for this at some point, so go to my profile if you want to see those on my DA). I also have some original poetry up (and a painting that I did in fourth grade or something-so I don't know if anyone wants to look at any of that)._

_I think this epilogue is probably one of the longest I've ever read. Ha, ha. But who's to say how long an epilogue should be. =)_

_Well, without further ado, here is the epilogue. _

_This has been,_

_-Don "QuixoticQuest" ^_^_

_

* * *

_

The morning flashed orange and vibrant reds into Astrid's window. She had to squeeze her eyes shut before peering through her window with sleepy eyes. It only took her a moment to realize that the sun was glinting off of the mast of a distant ship as it approached Berk's harbor.

"Odin alive," She muttered as she hurriedly threw on her clothes and bolted out of the door, narrowly missing knocking her father over. Roonie gave a loud yelp from his place in the Hofferson shed. A low screech turned her eyes to the sky as Toothless landed next to Astrid and began to nudge her.

"I know, I know," She said. Over the past few days Toothless and Astrid had become closer. At first the Night Fury was dubious of her, even though he trusted that she wasn't a threat, he still wasn't as attached to her as he was to Hiccup. Naturally, Roonie was the same way about Astrid. He liked Hiccup as much as the next dragon, but he favored his rider the most. She swung herself onto Toothless' back and patted his neck.

"Go!" She yelled and the dragon shot into the sky and toward the docks. With a thud, Toothless landed and Astrid wasted no time in pushing her way to the front of the crowd gathered on the docks to welcome the incoming ship as one of the figures on board hurled the anchor into the water.

_Clunk. _Astrid's grin stretched the broadest it had in a long time at the familiar sound. It launched her forward the moment the metal leg touched down on the dock.

"Whoa," The russet haired boy, no, he was now a man, said with a surprised, yet clearly pleased smile. "I take it you were bored?"

Astrid blew a piece of hair out of her face, "You have no idea."

"I have some," He glanced over at the black dragon who was sitting on his hind legs and wiggling back and forth impatiently. "Hey, Buddy." Toothless then tackled his friend and attacked Hiccup with a tight hug of wings. Astrid couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"I guess I missed a lot," Hiccup said, finally breaking away from Toothless long enough to continue his conversation with Astrid. He glanced around, immediately noticing the absence of the other trainees.

"Tuff and Snotlout are on a hunting trip," Astrid explained as if sensing Hiccup's thoughts. He nodded in understanding. It was that time of the season.

"What about Fishlegs?" The grimace on Astrid's face as he asked told Hiccup that this was a subject for another time.

"Well, I'd better go let my dad know that I'm alive," Hiccup said with a grin. The past few days had been torture for everyone in Berk. They had been waiting to hear whether or not Hiccup would survive his battle wounds. Astrid especially had been on pins and needles. She didn't miss a chance every day to pass by the docks to see if Korenth's ship had arrived.

"Korenth?" Astrid questioned. Hiccup shook his head. "Oh." She glanced down at the ground. Despite what he had told her, she still felt pain every time she thought about the past events. "What about his soldiers?"

"Well, seeing as they were always loyal to the Haddock family, both Korenth and Hidaiyo's soldiers all decided to swear loyalty to the heir of the Haddock family," Hiccup said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. It was hard to believe that he had gone through so much trouble to fight one side only to find that both were now loyal to the Haddock family completely.

"Really?" Astrid looked over her shoulder as knights disembarked from the ship. Sure enough, there were several warriors among them, helping to unload supplies. "They're not staying here, are they?"

Hiccup shook his head, "No, they're all going back to the castle, to rebuild it. I promised to go oversee the rebuilding when they start."

"When's that?" Astrid asked, suddenly realizing that this would mean Hiccup would have to leave once again. She wasn't exactly keen on the idea, not that she had a choice. He was going to inherit a lot more responsibility than his father had. Hiccup was now the leader of a castle and would soon by the Chief of Berk as well.

"Not for a while," He looked over at his father's lodge, "I have a few things to take care of before I leave." Astrid's curiosity and confusion at his distant gaze as he looked at his father's lodge was peaked but she decided to let it lie. He would tell her when he was ready and even if he didn't want to explain it, she would always be there to listen if he changed his mind.

"Astrid?" She turned. It was so painfully obvious to her now how much she really loved Hiccup. The past few days had been filled with subtle reminders that Hiccup was embedded in the very life of Berk now. When people walked around, they would see Toothless and immediately ask where Hiccup was. It was a reflex. Despite the fact that Toothless shared pain with Hiccup, Toothless was a dragon and he could endure more than Hiccup could. Then there were moments when she would hear the clinking of metal and glance over at the blacksmith shop, hoping that Hiccup might be there. For a while she thought he really wasn't going to come back and she'd have to put up with the reminders for the rest of her life and wonder what would have happened if he really had… moved on.

But she knew he wouldn't because of what Korenth had said. He had been right all along. Hiccup was all about heart and as long as he had that, he would never truly be gone. Heart wasn't about tangibility after all.

Korenth knew all along that he wouldn't be the one to survive as the Eternal Heart. The heart had to be whole or it would never survive. She couldn't think about anything except that Korenth's absence was painful.

"Astrid?" She jumped a little as Hiccup touched her arm lightly.

"Sorry," She said, shaking herself from her reverie. Hiccup scrutinized her for a second, but decided to leave it at that.

"I'm going to talk to my father, " He looked her over carefully and she could tell he was concerned but that he also respected her privacy enough that he wouldn't probe her about what was on her mind unless she wanted to talk about it. He was just that observant and she couldn't help but feel badly that she was hiding things from him.

But there was a right time and place for them. She had her reasons. "All right, I'll see you later." She said. Hiccup nodded and with one final glance over his shoulder at her, he walked off toward his house.

_Great, Astrid, now you've worried him,_ She chided herself. It wasn't hard to see that Hiccup was incredibly concerned because he always wore his emotions out on his sleeves. She smiled as Toothless nudged her. She had to have looked pretty shaken up if Toothless had abandoned following his rider and remained behind to comfort her. "Thanks, Toothless," She scratched him in the good spot and he purred and rumbled a satisfied chirp.

"What am I going to do?" Astrid asked the dragon, who gave her a beady eye look and inclined his head in the human equivalent of a nod. "Be honest?" He nodded again.

"Yeah, right," She shook her head. Toothless growled. "I'm not ready, okay?" He made a face. "You try telling someone you love him!" Toothless rumbled and began to roll around in the grass, clearly bored by this conversation. "A load of help you are." Toothless growled indignantly. "Just telling it like it is." Toothless growled again and pawed at the ground. A glint entered Astrid's eyes.

"Fine, you want to debate this?" Toothless snorted an affirmative. "Let's fight it out in the ring. You and me." Astrid wasn't sure why she was challenging Toothless, but she was in an antsy mood and she hadn't fought in long time. Besides, how often did one get to fight a dragon these days?

* * *

"Ruffnut!" Her mother called for the umpteenth time. "Ruffnut Gingerbeard Thorston!"

"What?" Ruffnut yelled, finally popping her head out of her room. She hated it when her mother used her middle name as it was the worst possible name in the village. She couldn't stand it anymore than she could stand being around her idiot brother all the time. She loved Tuffnut to death, but by Thor she knew he was the last person she wanted to be stuck with on Berk. These past days had been filled with chores and thankfully Tuffnut had to go on a raid the second he got back to Berk.

"The healer's here!" The widow Thorston called. Ruffnut grunted and left her latest project where it was.

"Coming," She called back and trumped down the stairs, carefully trying not to look too worried as she eyed the healer. As soon as she stepped off the last step, the healer scrutinized Ruffnut.

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" The healer asked. Ruffnut folded her arms across her chest.

"I've been waiting since I got back to hear what in Odin's name was going on," Ruffnut stated and her mother shot Ruffnut a warning look for her rude comment.

"Well," The healer said hesitantly, "It's your choice," She cleared her throat, "Follow me." She gestured and Ruffnut followed the healer to the lodge where the worst case injuries in Berk were taken. She knew that because her father had been taken there right before he died. Ruffnut hadn't really registered what "gone" meant until many years later. To her young mind, gone hadn't meant forever, but now she knew that it did.

"In here," The healer gestured to her small office. Ruffnut stepped inside and the healer closed the door behind her.

"I'm sorry that I had to be the one to inform you of this," The healer said slowly. Clearly she was practiced in giving bad news. Because the last time Ruffnut had been in this room, it had been when she and Tuffnut were six years old. That night the healer had summoned the Thorston family and told them that their father had died. It hadn't been shocking considering the condition that he had been in when they returned from the raid, but it had hurt. For years just the mention of her father had stung Ruffnut and she could tell that Tuffnut was always trying so hard to help his mother cope by being a man. What Tuffnut's idea of a man was Ruffnut would never know. He certainly could put on a brave front when he wanted to though.

"You don't have to tell me," Ruffnut said, "Astrid told me earlier."

The healer opened her mouth and then shut it, "Then you'll want to see him?"

Ruffnut scowled and wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Why would I want to see a dead body?"

"Body?" The healer blinked and then burst out laughing much to Ruff's annoyance. "Child, what did Astrid tell you?"

"That he wasn't likely to make it," Ruffnut stated. Astrid always had a knack for giving someone the blunt truth accompanied by the worst case scenario. "She said he would be dead by nightfall."

The healer laughed again, "Good Gods, Child, you shouldn't believe all that you hear," The healer smiled, "It's always better to see things for yourself," She stood up, "Now then, shall we go pay Fishlegs a visit?"

Ruffnut's expression paled as it all sunk in. Fishlegs was alive. He hadn't died and she wasn't going to have to relive the nightmare of that tragic night ten years ago. "Yeah," She finally managed quietly. It was strange for her, not having to deal with something painful. She'd heard that Hiccup had returned to Berk earlier that day and now she was beginning to wonder if Fishlegs was simply going to have to be the tragic hero.

"Wait," Ruffnut said as they approached one of the doors to the medical rooms, "What were you about to inform me about earlier?"

The healer paused at the door as a solemn look crossed her face, "Well, Fishlegs didn't want me to tell you this, but he-"

"Never mind, he can tell me himself," Ruffnut said and pushed past the healer and strode into the room, only to stop as soon as she saw Fishlegs. "Fish?" She questioned. He attempted a weak smile but she couldn't return it.

"Ruff?" Fishlegs managed before she shot him a glare.

"Don't give me that confused look!" She yelled and found that she herself was confused as to why she was yelling. What was the matter with her?

"Just what in Thor's name did you think you were doing?" She demanded. He lowered his gaze.

"I was just doing what I thought was…was right," He stammered, faltering under her gaze.

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong," Ruff snapped flippantly. She folded her arms across her chest and turned away.

"Ruff-"

"No!" She yelled, pointing a finger at him. "You scared me to death. Odin damn it, why would you even think about doing something like that?" She began pacing across the room and jabbed a finger at him, "Just what made you think you could repeat the same stupid mistake as my father?"

Fishlegs opened his mouth and then shut it. He hadn't known Ruffnut's father too well, but he had heard stories about his death and how he had given his life to save someone else's. It was noble, but no one would say who it was.

"I know you miss your father, Ruff," Fishlegs said gently. "And I'm sorry that he had to die that way. But I was doing what I thought was right. Sometimes giving your life for someone else's happiness is the right thing."

Ruffnut turned her flaring eyes toward him, "Just what about it is right? When you're dead, you're dead, Fish," She sighed and turned her head away, "Gods, you wouldn't understand."

"I do," Fishlegs replied firmly, "I understand that caring about someone makes you do stupid things."

Ruffnut opened her mouth and then shut it. "Huh," She frowned, "You know, you're a lot sharper than you act."

Fishlegs laughed nervously, "Well, not everyone appreciates my opinion.

"I do," Ruffnut said quietly. Fishlegs scrutinized her for a second, trying to comprehend what her sudden quiet was about. "Anyways, what did you mean before when you said that giving your life up for someone else's happiness is okay?"

Fishlegs took his turn to look away, "Hidaiyo was going to kill Toothless and if he had, Hiccup would have died too."

"He would have survived," Ruffnut replied, scowling, "What's your point?"

"That you love him, Ruff," Fishlegs said sternly, "And I… I love you enough that I would die just to see you smile and since you love Hiccup, I would give my life a hundred times over to see that he survives."

Ruffnut blinked, "You know what, forget what I said about you being sharp," She rubbed her temples with her fingers, "You're insane, Fish."

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Fishlegs pointed out, "You don't love me and Hiccup means the world to you."

Fishlegs thought Astrid was the only one who could pack a punch. Boy was he wrong. Ruffnut's fist slammed into his face and he could almost feel his skin shaking all the way to his bones from the impact. "Of course I love you! You're my best friend, Fish! Gods, I can't believe you're making me say this!" Ruffnut said, straightened and sighing. "I care about you, Fish. I care a lot more than you think, anyways. I thought you were dead. My father was enough, I don't need another Matyr in my family."

Fishlegs blinked. "Your family?" He stared blankly at Ruffnut for explanation before she sighed again.

"I love Hiccup, but that doesn't mean I love you any less. It's different," Ruffnut said. He sucked in his breath. He had a feeling she was going to tell him that he was like a brother. He'd heard stories like this before in the village where girls would tell boys they didn't like them romantically because they were like brothers. It was a common enough tale. "Hiccup's like a brother to me."

Fishlegs felt like someone had hit him on the head with a brick. He stared dazed at Ruffnut for a second before he spoke, "Wait, what?"

Ruffnut smiled, "I love you, You Big Oaf and if you have a brain you'll never think about dying for a stupid cause ever again." Fishlegs smirked. He should have guessed that if he had scared Ruffnut this much and caused her to express so much emotion all at once, it must have been important.

"And if you ever tell Tuff I said all that, I'll kill you myself," She raised an eyebrow, "Now what is it that the healer is saying you didn't want to tell me?" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest. _Well,_ Fishlegs thought, _It was fun to see that side of Ruff while it lasted._ Fishlegs suddenly turned grim and averted his gaze. She walked over and leaned in.

"Just tell me, no matter it is, I won't care." Fishlegs leaned over and whispered in her ear. He could only hang his head in shame as he bit his lip.

"I'm sorry, Ruff," He said, but she had already bolted out of the room.

* * *

Hiccup sighed. He couldn't find Astrid anywhere. She had been acting so strangely since he returned, he had begun to go through all the possible things that he had done in the last few hours that could have upset her. He let out a low sigh. He couldn't find Toothless either and that rarely ever happened.

Toothless never left his rider's side and the fact that Toothless had been MIA for hours after his rider had returned was odd. Granted, Hiccup really had something important to ask his father before he did anything else, but that wasn't any reason for Toothless to disappear off the face of the planet.

"Thor, what has been going on here while I was gone?" Hiccup muttered to himself and stopped to look around.

"Hiccup? Hiccup, is that you?" Hiccup turned and smiled faintly. Ruffnut seemed to have grown taller in the past few days, but Hiccup was sure that was his imagination.

"What?" She demanded, "Not happy to see me?"

"Hiccup shook his head, "No, no, I am," He waved his hands to calm the clear irritation building in Ruffnut's eyes, "It's just, I'm having a hard time finding Toothless."

Ruffnut raised an eyebrow, "I think I saw him with Astrid heading to the Dragon Training Ring." Hiccup's own eyes widened and then narrowed in confusion.

"What?"

Astrid leaped to the side as Toothless jumped at her and then rolled up into a kneeling position. Then she hefted her axe, only to have it wrenched from her hands by Toothless' jaws. He tossed it aside like a stick and then attempted to pin her to the ground. She dealt him a deft kick to his nose, to which he wrinkled his nose and then sneezed. That left Astrid enough time to roll out of the way.

Toothless grunted an shot a jet of fire in her direction. But Astrid was already out of range and leapt onto his back, gripping his neck and holding it in place.

"Uncle?" She questioned. Toothless grunted in frustration and then a toothy grin swept across his face and he shot up into the air and then spun around and around before Astrid jumped back onto the ground, slightly dazed.

"That was cheap!" She yelled, but the dragon snickered in the only way he could. Astrid gritted her teeth. "Okay, that's it!" She picked up her axe and vaulted herself up and landed on Toothless once again, pinning him to the ground.

"Astrid…what are you doing?" Astrid froze in her tracks and slowly rotated her head to look at Hiccup, who was standing a few feet away from her, watching her wrestling match with Toothless with a raised eyebrow.

"Um, nothing," Astrid answered, brushing herself off. Toothless snorted. "You be quiet." She glared at Toothless for blowing her cover. Hiccup's mouth twitched into a smile.

"What?" She demanded. He shook his head.

"Nothing, I'm just happy that you and Toothless are getting along," He looked over at his dragon, who rolled his eyes. Hiccup blinked. Now when did Toothless learn how to do that?

"Getting along, my butt," Astrid muttered. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh out loud this time. She punched him in the arm. "That was for laughing at me," She then paused as Hiccup continued to look at her contemplatively. He bit his lip and then looked away for a second. "Okay, Hiccup, what's on your mind?"

"What, oh, nothing," He shook his head.

"Hiccup," Astrid said exasperatedly. He was a terrible liar.

"Well," He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I…"

"Hiccup, M'Boy!" Hiccup tensed as a beefy hand slapped him on the shoulder. "Have you asked her yet?" Astrid looked over at the large form of Stoick the Vast as he grinned broadly at his son. Something was definitely going on that Hiccup wasn't telling her. He slowly shook his head. Stoick frowned. "Well, get busy then!" He chuckled and gave Hiccup another clap on the shoulder that sent the boy staggering a little. He sheepishly raised his head to look at Astrid.

"What was that about?" She questioned, now completely suspicious of Hiccup's previous hesitation.

"Astrid, there's something I wanted to-"

"Hiccup!" Astrid and Hiccup both turned around to see the form of Snotlout running toward the ring. He ducked under the slightly raised gate and then sprinted over to where Hiccup stood. Snotlout took a second to catch his breath before speaking.

"Hiccup, you've got to come quickly!" Snotlout said, his chest still heaving heavily between breaths, "There's trouble."

Hiccup frowned at his cousin's frantic expression. "What's the matter?" Hiccup asked. He wasn't sure about Snotlout's sudden appearance and the fact that he was asking Hiccup of all people for help.

"Well, for starters," Tuffnut said as he appeared at Snotlout's elbow, "Our newly made warrior allies just received a message from Kuuwaay saying that another village is gearing up for a full out war."

Hiccup blinked and held up his hands, "Whoa, whoa, slow down. What village?"

"We don't know," Snotlout said with snort of indignation. "They wouldn't tell us anything. They only wanted to talk to you."

Hiccup blinked again, "Me? Why me?"

"Because you're the new Chief. Your dad just announced that you'd be the chief once you got married," Tuffnut stated plainly. Now Astrid's eyes bore into Hiccup.

"You're getting married?" She questioned, sucking in her breath. Hiccup shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, you didn't hear about this?" Snotlout asked. "Way to go, Hiccup, you get the award for lamest husband ever."

"Wait, who's he getting married to?" Astrid demanded. "Hiccup?"

"You!" Tuffnut said, punching Hiccup playfully in the arm, before he glanced over at Astrid, realizing that he'd said something he shouldn't have.

"Hiccup…" Astrid said slowly, her eyes narrowing. Tuffnut and Snotlout slowly backed away and began to slink out of the ring as Astrid rounded on Hiccup.

"Just when were you planning to tell me we were getting married?" Astrid demanded, "And why didn't you ask me?"

"I was going to ask you," Hiccup said, meeting her gaze. "I was about to ask when my dad came up to us."

Astrid dropped any retorts and arguments she had prepped in her head at that. "Oh." Hiccup sighed.

"I'm sorry, this wasn't the way I wanted to propose to you, Astrid, but," He sighed, "I love you. I guess I'm not the best suited person to be with you, but I do love you and if you'll have me, I'd like to marry you."

Astrid's expression softened. Leave it to Hiccup to mess up a proposal. But his statement just now made up for any mess ups he'd had in the past and he was certainly sweet and she couldn't believe she was thinking it… adorable in the way he asked her. He wasn't forcing her and he certainly wasn't pressuring her like everyone else was. Despite all that, she already knew what her answer would be.

"Yes," Astrid said. Hiccup let out a sigh and then laugh of relief as a toothy grin spread across his face. He continued smiling until Astrid punched him.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"That," She said, "Was for not asking me right away." Hiccup looked disappointed for a second when she didn't kiss him right after that. "And this," She said and kissed him deeply enough that Hiccup's brain went into such tizzy that he swayed slightly and Astrid had to steady him. "Was for everything else."

"I could get used to that," Hiccup said, smiling once again.

"You better," Astrid replied, also smiling. A whistle from the side told Astrid that Tuffnut and Snotlout had seen the whole exchange. As her blue eyes glared at them, they slowly backed away and ran out of the ring.

* * *

Ruffnut avoided going to see Fishlegs all day until she'd heard that he had been discharged from the healing lodge. She then considered wandering by his house, but decided against it for some reason even she didn't understand.

She was still too shocked about what he had told her that night to the point where she couldn't even think about what it meant. Ruffnut rounded the corner and walked straight into something hard or rather, someone.

"Oh, sorry, Ruff," Ruffnut looked up to see Hiccup standing there, grinning like he'd been in the clouds all day. She only saw him smile like that when he finished riding on Toothless.

"It's okay," She said, waving her hand. Hiccup immediately frowned at her response. Normally Ruffnut was in everyone's faces and was louder than a dragon at feeding hour, but now she was sobered and quiet.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked. Ruffnut couldn't help but give him an indignant scowl at the obvious question.

"No, Hiccup, I am not okay," She replied shortly. She regretted her retort immediately because Hiccup's smile deteriorated instantly.

"It's Fishlegs, isn't it?" Hiccup asked. Ruffnut nodded. She already knew that Hiccup had good intuition when it came to figuring out emotions, but it still amazed her how sharp he was. "He really wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to him," Ruffnut stated.

"Why?"

"Because I wouldn't know what to say," Ruffnut replied quietly. "How am I supposed to know how to respond to what he said?"

Hiccup shrugged, "I don't know how to answer that since I don't know what he told you," He looked over in the direction of Fishleg's home, "But I do know that it's usually better to just say things rather than wait until it's too late."

Ruffnut looked curiously at Hiccup as he spoke because his eyes held a sad sort of longing in them. "You're talking about your mother."

Hiccup nodded slowly. "She died when I was very young and I regret not telling her a lot of things."

"Have you told Astrid about this?" Ruffnut asked. He looked at her and then shook his head. "You should. She deserves to know.

Hiccup sighed, "I know," He smiled at Ruffnut, "So does Fishlegs."

Ruffnut blinked, "How long have you known?"

"Long enough," Hiccup replied. He nodded toward Fishlegs' house. "You should go." Ruffnut smiled.

"Right," She turned away and began walking before she stopped. "And, Hiccup?" He stopped in his own tracks and looked over his shoulder at her. "Thanks." Then she continued onwards as Hiccup walked back to his own house.

"Here goes," Ruffnut said as she raised her hand to knock on Fishlegs' door, only to find that it had opening and she was trying to knock on Fishlegs himself. "Fish?"

"Oh," He blinked in surprise, "I was about to come looking for you."

"Why?" Ruffnut questioned.

"I felt like I owed you an explanation," Fishlegs said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. She shook her head.

"You don't. I'm the one who should apologize for running out on you like that," She sighed. "I was just shocked is all and I don't think any less of you for what you did for Hiccup or what happened to you because of it."

"Even if that means I won't be able to fly again?" Fishlegs asked quietly. Ruffnut looked at him, her eyes sternly boring into him. He had told her the night before that because the arrows had struck him so close to his heart, it couldn't handle flying at high altitudes anymore.

"Yeah, of course it does," She then hugged him hard. "Fish, just because you can't fly anymore, doesn't mean I don't love you. I don't want to have to keep repeating myself, so you better get that through your head."

Fishlegs smiled and gently wrapped his arms around her, "Okay."

* * *

It was rumored that Korenth of the knights had completely vanished shortly after Hiccup recovered consciousness, though Hiccup himself was the only one who truly knew what had happened.

The heart bond between Toothless and Hiccup remained strong for a few months before it broke and they regained power of their own bodies once more. Because Korenth and Hidaiyo were dead, the truth about the Eternal Heart was never recovered.

As what is loved never dies, there are many who still believe it lives among those who have enough courage to love everything. Where one feels at home is where the heart is.

_-Fin-_

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**A/N- Thanks one and all for your support and feedback throughout this fic. I am sad to end it, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**There will be a sequel (as I mentioned before), though I'm not sure what it'll be titled or when I'll get the first chapter up. So just keep looking for it on my profile and I'll mark in the description that it's a sequel to this story.**

**I'm also planning to draw some HTTYD fan art and post it to my DA at some point, so if anyone wants to check that out, go to my profile page and you'll see a link to it relatively close to the top of the page (so you don't have to scroll down too far, I know my page is long). **

**This concludes "Fly Away Home" and I hope to see everyone at the next story and any future stories in this genre and others. =)  
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**Thanks again.**

**-Don **


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